Pinion Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pinion Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 24.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,675 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.29. The company has a market cap of $172.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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).