White Pine Investment CO Sells 4,728 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

White Pine Investment CO cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,754 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,728 shares during the period. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $1,434,572,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE VZ opened at $43.23 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.35. The stock has a market cap of $182.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 63.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.53.

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).