Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 12,551 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.3% during the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,507 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,654 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the second quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 29,411 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.7% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 1,385,690 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $56,610,000 after purchasing an additional 74,266 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 67,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Finally, Bcwm LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bcwm LLC now owns 143,663 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 3,486 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Barclays raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.84.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $50.11 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.39 and a 1 year high of $51.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given 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 5.6%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total value of $55,066.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 108,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,444,825.96. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.