Nomura has kept its 'neutral' rating and 195p target price for telecoms giant Vodafone after the announcement of a 2.1bn-pound dividend payment from its stake in Verizon Wireless (VZW).VZW, which has been at the centre of takeover rumours by Verizon for months, is paying a total of $7.0bn (£4.6bn) to shareholders at the end of June, $3.2bn of which is going to Vodafone. This is the third income distribution from VZW within 18 months, with the last ($8.5bn) being paid in December 2012."We interpret Verizon's move as raising awareness of the unstable VZW distribution policy ahead of Vodafone's full-year presentation on May 21st," Nomura said.The broker said that Verizon's Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam has gone back on his comments last week in which he warned that it could be a "lean" year for the VZW dividend."As such, its tactical purpose is to highlight the less-than-satisfactory arrangement from a Vodafone perspective, which will put more pressure on Vodafone to consider a disposal of its 45% VZW stake, in our view."While Vodafone had previously used VZW dividend proceeds for special dividends or share buy-backs, Nomura thinks that the group will have a greater need to recapitalise the balance sheet "following a heavy round of spectrum payments and also having acknowledged a need to improve its convergence positioning including via M&A." Details over Vodafone's plan on how to use the cash will be revealed in its full-year results.Shares in Vodafone have raced higher since the start of the year on speculation that Verizon could offer to buy-out its 45% share in VZW for somewhere in the region of $100bn, though the group is thought to want a much higher price. "We think Vodafone shareholders will be happy for Vodafone to wait patiently for ad-hoc distributions unless Verizon offers a bid of $130bn-plus for the 45% stake."[...] We see the main barrier to a deal getting done as no longer tax, but rather the prospect of Vodafone having a large strategic stake in Verizon, which may prove unpalatable to Verizon. However, we believe that Vodafone and Verizon's interests are largely aligned in getting a deal concluded over the summer, and we expect M&A speculation to increase again following Vodafone's full-year results and guidance disclosure next week."Vodafone was trading 0.85% lower at 191.85p in morning trade on Tuesday.BC