NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Verizon (VZ) - Get Report stock is down 0.13% to $55.89 this afternoon after the wireless carrier announced it would be increasing the cost of its wireless service as of July 7.

Prices will go up by $5 or $10 per month depending on the size of the plan, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The New York-based communications company is the largest U.S. wireless carrier by number of subscribers. Along with AT&T (T), the two companies hold 270 million of 395 million connections in the U.S.

The Journal says the price hike is a sign that the company has not been hurt by aggressive discounting by smaller rivals, retaining its customers and even instituting higher prices.

The new pricing plans, which will take effect on July 7, will not impact existing customers. But these customers will not be eligible for rollover data, overage avoidance or free calling to Mexico and Canada if they do not switch over.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of A.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth, increase in net income, expanding profit margins and growth in earnings per share. TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that TheStreet Ratings evaluated.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: VZ

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

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