Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Holdings Raised by FourThought Financial Partners LLC

FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 59.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,131 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,865 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.3% during the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 335,856 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,761,000 after buying an additional 13,787 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 379,174 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,665,000 after acquiring an additional 46,699 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 140,981 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,196,000 after acquiring an additional 21,915 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,667,402 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $161,182,000 after acquiring an additional 99,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 378.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 93,732 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,120,000 after purchasing an additional 74,151 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.25 to $54.50 in a report on Monday. Barclays began coverage on 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.28.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $50.41 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.60 and its 200-day moving average is $42.62. The company has a market cap of $212.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.30. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $36.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 12.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. Equities research 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 $0.7075 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 145,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,196,873.09. This trade represents a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 218,148 shares of company stock valued at $10,780,356 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.