Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) announced its normal $0.53 per share common stock dividend after the close on Friday. Its headline focused on the dividend, which may have led many investors to overlook the news. The real news is that Verizon is boosting its stock buyback plan.
This dividend is unchanged from the previous quarter and is payable on May 1, 2014 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 10, 2014. The company made $5.9 billion in cash dividend payments in 2013.
Verizon voted in favor of repurchasing up to 100 million shares of its common stock. Its prior plan terminated on February 28, 2014. Under the expired program, Verizon had purchased only 3.5 million shares.
The new 100 million share program is for the same number of shares as the prior plan. It is also for the same three-year duration.
This new buyback might not sound like huge news on the surface, but you have to recall that Verizon was tied up for quite some time in its purchase of the remaining stake in Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD). Verizon also recently issued many shares to Vodafone, so it seems possible that this would allow Verizon to keep a bunch of new shares from hitting the market all at once.
Verizon said that it has approximately 4.1 billion shares of common stock outstanding.
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