Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell Sells 8,569 Shares of Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,782 shares in the company, valued at $2,189,100. This represents a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $50.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $214.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.39 and a 1 year high of $51.10.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $36.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.15%.

Key Stories Impacting Verizon Communications

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Verizon demonstrated a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) proof-of-concept at MWC Barcelona with Aptiv and Wind River that used Verizon’s 5G + edge compute to share real?time sensor data between vehicles, highlighting concrete enterprise use cases (automatic emergency braking, cooperative driving) that could translate into new connected?vehicle revenue streams for Verizon Business. Verizon V2X Trial Highlights 5G Edge Potential Aptiv/Wind River press release
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference — investor outreach that can help clarify strategy and guidance but contains no headline surprises in the summary provided. Conference transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of AST SpaceMobile’s big revenue beat was noted in the newsfeed; while AST’s scale could be complementary to space-based cellular initiatives, any direct impact on Verizon is speculative at this point. AST SpaceMobile revenue story
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market weakness tied to escalation fears in the U.S.-Iran situation sent major indexes lower, a headwind for equities generally that can pressure shares even of defensive telecom names like VZ. Market coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SVP Mary?Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares at about $50.00 (a ~16.4% reduction in her holdings) — a routine executive sale that may be viewed neutrally by some investors but can apply short?term downward pressure on sentiment. SEC filing: Insider sale filing

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 490.0% in the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 649 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 95.3% during the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Williams Trading set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.02.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.