Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Commonwealth Financial Services LLC

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,636 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,114,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.5% in the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 22,314 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 2,833 shares during the period. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.0% in the first quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Finally, Powers Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the first quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 13,155 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $168.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.25.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

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).