Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Stock Position Decreased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,324,387 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,758,958 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,420,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 373,904,749 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,433,114,000 after buying an additional 1,117,733 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,322,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,504,150,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $915,552,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,892 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $50.86 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.39 and a 52 week high of $51.10. The stock has a market cap of $214.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 145,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,196,873.09. The trade was a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $428,450.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,189,100. This trade represents a 16.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.02.

About Verizon Communications

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.