Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,584,162 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 7,509,055 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,286,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 490.0% in the 4th quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 649 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Verizon Communications

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Verizon announced pricing terms for its tender offers and consent solicitations across 20 series of notes, part of an effort to refinance or retire debt and streamline its capital structure. Markets often view these moves as supportive of future cash flow flexibility. Verizon announces pricing terms of its tender offers and consent solicitations for 20 series of Verizon and certain of its subsidiaries’ notes
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon also reported early results and extended the early participation date on its debt exchange/tender programs, suggesting solid holder participation and continued progress on liability management. Verizon announces extension of early participation date and early results of its private exchange offers and consent solicitations for 11 series of notes open to certain investors
• Positive Sentiment: Array Digital Infrastructure completed the sale of select spectrum assets to Verizon for $1.0 billion, reinforcing Verizon’s long-term network investment strategy and spectrum position. Array completes sale of select spectrum assets to Verizon for 1.0 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate article highlighted Verizon as a high-yield dividend stock with attractive valuation and growing cash flow, which supports the investment case but is not a new company-specific catalyst. Verizon’s Growing Cash Flow Continues to Support its Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Another piece said Verizon has pulled back recently but remains up over the past year, framing the stock as potentially undervalued after mixed earnings signals rather than indicating a fresh operational problem. Assessing Verizon VZ Valuation After Recent Pullback And Mixed Earnings Signals

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $47.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.16. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.39 and a 1-year high of $51.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $199.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.24.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The firm had revenue of $34.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.