Mcdonald Partners LLC Has $1.55 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Mcdonald Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 55.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,146 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 44,224 shares during the period. Mcdonald Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,147,000. Miramar Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 452,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $19,904,000 after purchasing an additional 11,009 shares in the last quarter. Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $511,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the third quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 152,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,690,000 after buying an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 16.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,177,088 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $227,533,000 after buying an additional 726,712 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about 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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. William Blair raised shares of Verizon Communications to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.02.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:VZ opened at $50.86 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $214.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $36.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 12.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.7075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total value of $429,905.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,976,739.60. This trade represents a 17.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $9,922,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 145,069 shares in the company, valued at $7,196,873.09. This represents a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.