United Asset Strategies Inc. Grows Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,856 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 413,409 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $18,752,000 after acquiring an additional 18,661 shares during the period. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the first quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC now owns 82,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the first quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 18,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $854,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 86,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,904,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.8% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 15,677 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $45.0070 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $189.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).