Today, 4/23/12, I sold 2 Jul12 $40.00 Covered Calls for a net income of $80.48.  My basis for these VZ shares is now $34.17, excluding dividends received.  This transaction represents a simple return of about 1.16% and an annualized return of about 4.77%. 

S&P continues a 12-month price target of $37 and a Hold recommendation for VZ.  MarketEdge has a price opinion of $38.23 and an Avoid opinion.  The 29 Yahoo analysts have a 1-year price target of $39.72 and a 2.6 recommendation on a scale where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell.

I consider VZ to be a part of my core holdings and would like to own more of it but just don’t have the cash available to do so at this time.  VZ pays a good dividend at about 5.19% on its current price.  VZ currently pays a .50 dividend, up from .49 last July.  This higher dividend resulted in a yield on my basis of 5.74% when last paid in February 2012.