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Wireless services account for about 70% of Verizon Communications' (VZ) total service revenue and nearly all of its operating income.

The firm serves about 93 million postpaid and 21 million prepaid phone customers (following the acquisition of Tracfone) via its nationwide network, making it the largest US wireless carrier.

Fixed-line telecom operations include local networks in the Northeast, which reach about 29 million homes and businesses and serve about 8 million broadband customers.

Verizon also provides telecom services nationwide to enterprise customers, often using a mixture of its own and other carriers' networks.

The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000.

Verizon Communications Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Three key data points gauge

VZ or any dividend-paying firm.

The key three are:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Those three keys also best tell whether any company has made, is making, and will make money.

VZ Price

Over the past year, Verizon's share price rose over 41% from $31.05 to $43.85 as of Thursday’s market close.

In the past 10 years, the company’s share price has never been less than $30.60 nor higher than $62.61.

If shares trade in the range of $30.00 to $50.00 this next year, the recent $43.85 share price might grow to $47.00. Of course, VZ's price could also drop about the same $3.15 estimated amount or more.

My $3.15 price upside estimate is slightly less than of the median of one-year target prices estimated by the 24 analysts tracking VZ  stock for brokers. They expect the VZ share price to hit $47.44 in the coming year.

VZ Dividend

Verizon has paid variable quarterly dividends since February 1985. The company's most recent dividend of $0.68 was declared on September 4 for shareholders of record on October 10 with the payout due November 4.

The $0.68 Q dividend pays  $2.71 per share annually for a yield of 6.18%.

VZ Returns

Putting it all together, a $5.86 estimated annual gross gain per share shows up by adding VZ’s annual $2.71 dividend to the estimated price upside of $3.15, making that $5.86 gross gain.

Slightly over $1000 buys 23 shares at Thursday's $43.85 price.

A $10 broker fee (if charged), paid half at purchase and half at sale, could take about $0.435 per share out of the $5.86 gross gain to give us a net gain of $5.425 X 23 shares = $124.77 for about a 12.4% estimated net gain for the year.

Furthermore, the $61.80 annual dividend paid from $1k invested is 1.4 times more than the $43.85 single share price. By these numbers, VZ might be an ideal dividend dog.

Thus, you might choose to pounce on VZ.  It is a 41-year-old quarterly dividend-paying New York-based telecom with a 39-year dividend record.

The exact track of VZ’s future price and dividend will entirely be determined by market action and the company’s finances.

Remember the true value of any stock is best realized through personal ownership of shares.

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