Verizon is out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but shares still offer a dividend yield near 6%

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) has been removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to a market report published by Yahoo Finance on June 24, 2026. The move matters for both branding and investor tracking, since the Dow is closely watched as a bellwether of large U.S. companies and is used in a variety of investment products and benchmark comparisons.

The Yahoo Finance report said that, after the change, the Dow will no longer include any traditional telecom names. It pointed to a longer arc in which AT&T lost its spot to Apple in 2015, leaving telecoms increasingly absent from the index’s lineup of widely recognized industrial leaders.

Despite the index change, the same report highlighted Verizon’s dividend profile, describing the company’s dividend yield as “still looks solid” and referencing a figure near 6%. Dividend yield is a common measure of the annual dividend per share relative to the stock price, and for many income-focused investors it is a key part of evaluating total returns even when price action is volatile.

Verizon has been among the most prominent U.S. communications providers by scale and subscriber footprint, and telecom stocks often trade with a mix of defensive characteristics and capital-spending expectations. In that context, an outsized emphasis on dividend yield can become a focal point when an index ticket is removed. Index membership can influence flows from investors whose strategies are tied to specific benchmark constituents, while dividends represent a direct, ongoing cash return that does not depend on index rules.

The Dow’s constituent list is managed to represent major, established U.S. companies, and changes can happen when index committee decisions adjust holdings for reasons such as business representation and market impact. For Verizon, being dropped from the Dow does not change the fundamentals of wireless networks, broadband service, or enterprise offerings, but it does alter the optics and may affect passive exposure that follows the benchmark.

In the immediate aftermath of an index change, some investors also look at the “who replaces whom” question, and whether broader sectors are gaining or losing representation. Here, the Yahoo Finance report’s framing is notable: it connects Verizon’s removal to a telecom gap that dates back at least to 2015, suggesting the Dow’s composition has leaned away from classic telecom names even as the sector remains critical to U.S. connectivity.

Beyond the index headline, Verizon’s corporate communications emphasize network reliability, wireless and broadband initiatives, and company updates through its newsroom. While that material is not a substitute for index-provider methodology, it can help investors understand what the company is prioritizing operationally while markets react to benchmark shifts.

Still, key details were not provided in the Yahoo Finance post itself, including the specific effective date of Verizon’s removal, which index changes occurred in the same rebalancing, and whether Verizon’s dividend yield is expected to move materially in future quarters. Without additional documents or an index-provider announcement in the reporting packet, the exact mechanics and timing of the Dow adjustment remain unclear. What can be confirmed from the market report is the existence of the removal event and the attention given to Verizon’s dividend yield at roughly the 6% level. Next, investors will likely watch for further clarification from the index administrator and for any reaction in tracking funds and exchange-traded products that align with Dow constituents.