California Public Employees Retirement System Has $775.20 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,638,273 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,520,767 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $775,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $2,504,150,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,512,228 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $637,812,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905,101 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after purchasing an additional 4,615,075 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,848,766 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965,033 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $54.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.03.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

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

Verizon Communications News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4/earnings + guidance — Verizon beat Q4 EPS estimates and set FY2026 EPS guidance of $4.90–$4.95, reinforcing cash flow and dividend coverage that investors prize. This underpins the stock’s recent upward move and supports dividend-focused buying. MarketBeat VZ overview
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade/price target lift — Oppenheimer set a new $56 price target on VZ, suggesting upside from current levels and giving investors confidence in consensus estimates and valuation support. Oppenheimer price target
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership/enterprise traction — Coverage of Kodiak AI’s milestones highlights expanded partnerships with Verizon, signaling enterprise & network monetization opportunities beyond core wireless services. That diversification can boost long-term revenue potential. Kodiak AI partnership mention
• Neutral Sentiment: Subscriber momentum — Analysts note solid postpaid phone adds and fixed wireless subscriber growth, which improve churn and lifetime value but have yet to fully translate into stronger service revenue growth. This is constructive for ARPU stability and churn metrics. Zacks subscriber growth article
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue ceiling risk — Despite subscriber gains, analysts and company commentary expect wireless service revenues to remain roughly flat near-term, which could cap share-price upside until service revenue or margin expansion resumes. Zacks revenue outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend/resilience narrative — Coverage highlighting Verizon as a high-yield, U.S.-focused defensive stock has driven demand from income-focused investors amid geopolitical volatility; this supports a higher valuation multiple relative to risk-off peers. MarketBeat dividend safe-haven piece

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $51.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $38.39 and a one year high of $51.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.82. The stock has a market cap of $216.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The company had revenue of $36.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.15%.

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.