Quantitative Investment Management LLC Makes New $1.58 Million Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Quantitative Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 37,252 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,577,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,286,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 234,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $707,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 2,035,492 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $86,183,000 after purchasing an additional 16,492 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the second quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 70,344 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,978,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $52.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.97.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $55,066.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,444,825.96. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:VZ opened at $50.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.39 and a 1-year high of $51.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 EPS 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 company had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Verizon Communications 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.