Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) finished the holiday-shortened Christmas Eve session (Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025) higher, then eased slightly in after-hours trading as liquidity thinned into the holiday break. With U.S. stock markets closed on Christmas Day (Thursday, Dec. 25), the more practical “next open” for Verizon shares is Friday, Dec. 26, 2025—and investors will be weighing a mix of broad-market momentum, dividend-driven demand, and several fresh pieces of analysis published today.
Below is what happened after the bell today, what the latest news and research highlighted, and what to keep on your radar before trading resumes.
Verizon stock price today: where VZ closed and where it traded after hours
Even in a shortened session, Verizon’s tape told a clear story: the stock participated in the year-end “Santa rally” tone, but volume stayed light—typical for Christmas Eve.
VZ regular-session recap (Dec. 24, 2025):
- Close:$40.32 (up ~1.0% on the day) [1]
- Open / High / Low:$39.93 / $40.34 / $39.89 [2]
- Volume: about 7.7–7.9 million shares, well below typical recent averages [3]
- Distance from 52-week high: Verizon remained ~14.9% below its 52-week high of $47.36 (per MarketWatch’s daily market recap) [4]
After-hours check (as of 4:52 p.m. ET, delayed quote):
- After-hours price:$40.25 (about -$0.07 / -0.17% vs. the close)
- After-hours volume shown:~342K shares [5]
How to interpret the after-hours dip tonight: on a holiday week, small price moves can look bigger than they are because spreads widen and fewer participants are active—so it’s often more useful to watch whether the stock is holding key levels (like the psychologically important $40 area) than to overread a few pennies of extended-hours fluctuation.
The market backdrop mattered today: record highs, thin volume, “Santa rally” tone
Verizon’s move did not happen in a vacuum. The broader market provided a supportive tailwind:
- The Dow and S&P 500 both finished at record closing highs in the holiday-shortened session, with the S&P 500 ending at 6,932.05. [6]
- Reuters also emphasized thin trading conditions ahead of the holiday, noting lighter-than-normal exchange volume and that U.S. markets are closed Thursday for Christmas. [7]
- Earlier in the day, Reuters reported the S&P 500 hit an intraday record as investors leaned back into AI-linked leadership and rate-cut expectations for 2026. [8]
Why this matters for Verizon specifically:
- Verizon is widely treated as a defensive, income-oriented stock—so when investors feel more comfortable taking risk (broad rally) and rate expectations ease (supportive for dividend payers), telecom can quietly benefit even without a blockbuster company headline.
What today’s Verizon-specific news and analysis focused on
While there wasn’t a single “one headline” catalyst dominating Verizon after the bell, several notable research pieces published today (Dec. 24) shaped the narrative around VZ’s growth angles, valuation, and options activity.
1) Zacks: Verizon’s Kodiak AI collaboration spotlights 5G + IoT growth beyond wireless
A Zacks Equity Research note published on Nasdaq today highlighted Verizon’s collaboration with Kodiak AI in autonomous trucking, positioning Verizon’s 5G/IoT connectivity and ThingSpace platform as enabling infrastructure for real-time communications, telematics, fleet monitoring, and over-the-air updates. [9]
Key points from that analysis investors may focus on going into the next session:
- The note frames the partnership as part of Verizon’s effort to expand into adjacent, higher-growth markets beyond a saturated U.S. wireless landscape. [10]
- It also points to valuation context, stating Verizon’s shares trade at a lower P/E than the industry in Zacks’ comparison. [11]
- Importantly for sentiment, it notes earnings estimate revisions over the past 60 days (downward tweaks for 2025 and 2026 estimates) and assigns Verizon a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). [12]
Why this matters tomorrow (or rather, Friday’s reopen): Investors often react not just to partnerships, but to whether they translate into incremental revenue in Business/IoT segments—and whether earnings revisions are stabilizing or still drifting.
2) Nasdaq/BNK Invest: New February 2026 options began trading today
A Nasdaq options-focused item (BNK Invest) reported that new options for the February 2026 expiration started trading today in Verizon. [13]
The article walks through a covered-call example (for instance, referencing a $42 strike call and discussing premium/return math and implied volatility). [14]
Why options listings can matter to the stock (even if you never trade options):
- New expirations can change the hedging landscape and where dealers concentrate exposure (especially near round-number strikes).
- Around holidays, options activity sometimes becomes a disproportionate driver of short-term “pinning” behavior—though Verizon’s heavy dividend/income ownership base typically keeps volatility more muted than high-growth tech.
3) AAII valuation screen: “Overvalued?” headline, but metrics point to “deep value” characteristics
An AAII article dated Dec. 24, 2025 broke down Verizon’s valuation across multiple metrics (price-to-sales, P/E, EV/EBITDA, shareholder yield, price-to-book, and price-to-free-cash-flow). [15]
Notably, the piece lists (as of Dec. 23 data) items such as:
- Price-to-sales around 1.23
- P/E around 8.5
- EV/EBITDA around 7.1
- Shareholder yield around 6.7% [16]
It also states Verizon’s Value Score translates into a Value Grade of A (“Deep Value”) in AAII’s framework. [17]
Why this matters: Verizon’s bull/bear debate often comes down to whether investors are being paid enough (dividend yield) to accept slow growth and high capital intensity. Pieces like this reinforce the “value/income” case—but they don’t eliminate risks tied to competition, debt load, and execution.
4) MarketWatch daily recap: Verizon outperformed peers on a positive tape—but volume was very light
A MarketWatch market recap noted Verizon’s 1% gain and compared performance with several large-cap peers (including AT&T and T-Mobile), while highlighting very low trading volume versus recent averages. [18]
Why that’s important going into the next session: Low volume days can be less “informative” about true institutional conviction—so traders often look for confirmation when normal liquidity returns.
Forecasts and expectations: what Wall Street is generally pricing in
Even if today’s move was modest, Verizon remains a heavily covered stock where “consensus” matters, particularly for income-focused portfolios.
Analyst price targets
Aggregated analyst data compiled by MarketBeat shows:
- Average price target: about $47.47
- Range: roughly $40 (low) to $56 (high) [19]
At tonight’s after-hours area around $40.25, that implies a meaningful upside in the consensus view—but it’s also consistent with a market that often treats Verizon as a slow-and-steady dividend compounder, not a hyper-growth story.
Dividend: the next “hard date” many VZ investors care about
Verizon’s board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.69 per share (consistent with the prior quarter). [20]
From Verizon’s investor materials:
- Ex-dividend / record date:Jan. 12, 2026
- Payment date:Feb. 2, 2026
- Quarterly amount:$0.69 [21]
Why this matters for the next session: Dividend calendars can create demand from income accounts, and they can also influence short-dated options pricing as the ex-date approaches.
Next earnings: Verizon has already posted the date for Q4 results discussion
Verizon’s investor calendar lists its Fourth Quarter 2025 earnings discussion for:
- Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET [22]
That’s not “tomorrow morning” soon—but it’s close enough on the horizon that analysts and larger funds may begin positioning during the final trading days of December.
What to know before the next market open
1) First, a calendar reality check: U.S. markets are closed Thursday, Dec. 25
The NYSE holiday calendar confirms an early close on Dec. 24, 2025 and that the market is closed on Christmas Day. [23]
So the “next open” for regular U.S. stock trading is Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.
2) Expect post-holiday liquidity effects
Going into Friday:
- Volume typically normalizes, spreads tighten, and price moves can become more “real” than the holiday drift you see in extended hours.
- If the broader rally tone continues, Verizon may benefit as a steady, yield-heavy participant; if risk appetite swings back toward mega-cap tech, telecom can lag even if nothing is wrong fundamentally.
3) Watch the $40 area and the story around “income vs. growth”
With VZ sitting right around $40, Friday’s early action often becomes a tug-of-war between:
- buyers who want the dividend and “defensive” exposure, and
- sellers who rotate toward faster-growth themes when markets are making new highs.
4) “No new filing” can be news in itself on a holiday week
As of Verizon’s investor SEC filings page, the latest listed filing was dated Dec. 5, 2025 (8‑K/A), with other recent filings shown in November. [24]
That supports the idea that today’s tape was more about market tone and positioning than a fresh SEC-driven catalyst.
5) Ongoing themes still hanging over Verizon into year-end
Not new today, but still relevant before the next session:
- Restructuring / cost actions: Reuters has reported on significant job cuts as part of restructuring efforts in late 2025. [25]
- Frontier acquisition funding: A Bloomberg report (carried by Yahoo Finance) said Verizon sought about $10 billion from a bond sale to help fund the Frontier deal. [26]
These themes influence how investors model free cash flow, leverage, and long-term dividend coverage—key issues for a stock owned heavily for income.
Bottom line for Verizon stock after the bell
Verizon ended Christmas Eve at $40.32 and slipped modestly to around $40.25 in after-hours trade (as of the last reported delayed quote), with holiday-thin liquidity likely amplifying small moves. [27]
The most important “before the open” takeaway is timing: there is no U.S. market open on Dec. 25, so the next real checkpoint for VZ investors is Friday, Dec. 26, when normal liquidity returns. [28]
Between now and then, the most actionable things to monitor are:
- whether broad-market strength (record highs) carries into the post-holiday session, [29]
- how investors digest today’s research on Verizon’s growth-adjacent initiatives (Kodiak AI/IoT), valuation, and options positioning, [30]
- and the steady drumbeat of dividend-focused fundamentals ahead of the Jan. 12 ex-dividend date and Jan. 30 earnings discussion. [31]
References
1. www.marketwatch.com, 2. stockanalysis.com, 3. stockanalysis.com, 4. www.marketwatch.com, 5. www.marketwatch.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.reuters.com, 9. www.nasdaq.com, 10. www.nasdaq.com, 11. www.nasdaq.com, 12. www.nasdaq.com, 13. www.nasdaq.com, 14. www.nasdaq.com, 15. www.aaii.com, 16. www.aaii.com, 17. www.aaii.com, 18. www.marketwatch.com, 19. www.marketbeat.com, 20. www.verizon.com, 21. www.verizon.com, 22. www.verizon.com, 23. www.nyse.com, 24. www.verizon.com, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. finance.yahoo.com, 27. www.marketwatch.com, 28. www.nyse.com, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.nasdaq.com, 31. www.verizon.com
