Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by SouthState Corp

SouthState Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,784 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.12 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. 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 stock has a market cap of $181.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.85.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

Verizon Communications 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).