Trust Co. of Vermont Buys 1,644 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,375 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,644 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the first quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the first quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the second quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed 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 on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $185.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.36. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.36.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for 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 revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

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).