Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 48,421 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 569,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 48,421 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $23,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 215,490,064 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,470,788,000 after acquiring an additional 7,276,809 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,453,058,000 after acquiring an additional 5,497,598 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,512,228 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $637,812,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905,101 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $161,346,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,848,766 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965,033 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $47.84 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.39 and a twelve month high of $51.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.11. The firm has a market cap of $199.78 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.07. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.The business had revenue of $34.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Verizon Communications from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.59.

About Verizon Communications

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.