AMF Tjanstepension AB Raises Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,566,889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 869,780 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB owned 0.06% of Verizon Communications worth $111,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during 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 during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during 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 during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during 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 during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.68 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $184.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $43.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).