Lion Street Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Lion Street Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 4,788 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $167.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.41 and a 200-day moving average of $43.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).