Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Purchased by Clarius Group LLC

Clarius Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,549 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the 1st 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 acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st 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 raised its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the 1st 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. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.68 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.35. The company has a market capitalization of $184.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

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).