Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Acquired by SJS Investment Consulting Inc.

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1,156.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,193 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,984 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 7,843 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 310,397 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,431,000 after buying an additional 10,804 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 312.0% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 23,639 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,023,000 after buying an additional 17,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 133,236 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,765,000 after buying an additional 10,884 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,189,100. This trade represents a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $9,922,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 145,069 shares in the company, valued at $7,196,873.09. This represents a 57.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 218,148 shares of company stock valued at $10,780,356 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of VZ opened at $49.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.51. The stock has a market cap of $207.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.39 and a 12 month high of $51.68. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $36.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 12.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.8%. This is a positive change 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 is 68.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Verizon Communications from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.56.

Verizon Communications 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.