abrdn plc Has $186.55 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

abrdn plc increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,948,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 549,800 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned 0.12% of Verizon Communications worth $186,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,829,675,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,706,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,407,915. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.24. The stock has a market cap of $170.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).