V Square Quantitative Management LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

V Square Quantitative Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,505 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,241 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports 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 research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.53.

About Verizon Communications

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).