Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 4,716 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 646,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,716 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $27,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. now owns 18,217 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 4,717 shares during the last quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $207,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 82,345 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 71,217 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,147,934 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,671,000 after acquiring an additional 10,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.86 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.48 and a 200 day moving average of $43.24. 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 $168.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

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).