Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. Sells 794 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,585 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 794 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $977,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the first quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $168.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.17%.

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).