Insider Selling: Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) CEO Sells $55,066.00 in Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $55,066.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,766 shares in the company, valued at $5,444,825.96. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Kyle Malady also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 18th, Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.68, for a total value of $53,548.00.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

VZ stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.29. 10,212,497 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,030,869. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.65 and its 200 day moving average is $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $208.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.39 and a twelve month high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.16 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 11.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.70%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.3% during the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,481,407 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,423,000 after purchasing an additional 144,734 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $64,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $132,893,000. Financial Insights Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Insights Inc. now owns 7,323 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 1,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,016.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 271,369,762 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,489,796,000 after buying an additional 264,776,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on VZ. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Freedom Capital raised Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $52.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.84.

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.