5 Dividend Stocks Redditors are Buying for Recession

2. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Dividend Yield as of July 10: 5.67%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is a multinational tech company that offers voice, data, and video services and solutions to its consumers. In June, Wells Fargo added VZ to its recession stock portfolio as the economy faces a market-driven recession. The firm upgraded the stock to ‘Overweight’.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has raised its dividends through every crisis of the past two decades, including the pandemic of 2020. Though the company’s cash flow fell to $6.8 billion in Q1 2022 from $9.7 billion a year earlier, it still has enough room to grow its dividends in the coming years. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) had a payout ratio of 46.8% in Q1, improving from 55.9% in 2020. The company’s current quarterly dividend stands at $0.64 per share, with a yield of 5.67%, recorded on July 10.

In June, Scotiabank assumed its coverage on Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) with an ‘Outperform’ rating and a $59 price target. The firm presented a positive outlook on the wireless business.

As of the quarter ended in March 2022, 69 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned stakes in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), up from 63 in the previous quarter. The collective value of those stakes was over $4.12 billion. Fisher Asset Management was the company’s leading shareholder in Q1.

Weitz Investment Management mentioned Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in its Q4 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:

“After several quarters of pandemic-induced outsized growth, new broadband connection growth has slowed for U.S. cable operators. This slower growth has coincided with a renewed push by competitors like Verizon and AT&T to offer high-speed data (either via wireless connects or by building new fiber-optic networks).”