Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Purchases 231,405 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,202,549 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 231,405 shares during the quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $54,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 86,503 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,459,000 after buying an additional 40,113 shares in the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $1,805,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $49.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.44.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $44.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $186.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.07 and its 200-day moving average is $43.30.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 company had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.1%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).