26,874 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Purchased by Stevens Capital Partners

Stevens Capital Partners bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 26,874 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after buying an additional 7,461,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,747,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,851,715 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,168,080,000 after acquiring an additional 867,694 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,117,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,289,877 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $2,357,158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $50.18 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.73 and a 200-day moving average of $47.38. The company has a market capitalization of $208.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.39 and a 52 week high of $51.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $34.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.70%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total value of $55,066.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 108,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,444,825.96. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $52.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.84.

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.