Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 10,423 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 641,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,423 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $27,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,453,058,000 after acquiring an additional 5,497,598 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,080,810,000 after purchasing an additional 7,461,335 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,747,930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,851,715 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,168,080,000 after purchasing an additional 867,694 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,117,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,289,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Freedom Capital upgraded Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.84.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE VZ opened at $48.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $200.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.25. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $38.39 and a one year high of $51.68. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 11.64%.The firm had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.70%.

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.