UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Has $1.74 Billion Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,173,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,075,794 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,743,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 209,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the second quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 34,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the second quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 125,762 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,325,000 after buying an additional 9,100 shares during the last quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the second quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 24,268 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,028,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,219,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $432,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618,118 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Nine 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.84.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $50.10 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $46.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.44. 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 current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 business had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 108,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,444,825.96. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.