Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 551,040 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15,201.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 554,665 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 551,040 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $22,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,453,058,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497,598 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after purchasing an additional 7,461,335 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,747,930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,851,715 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,168,080,000 after purchasing an additional 867,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $2,357,158,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Dbs Bank cut Verizon Communications from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Freedom Capital upgraded Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $47.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.49, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.15 and a 200-day moving average of $45.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.39 and a fifty-two week high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $34.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.02%.

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.