Plancorp LLC Sells 841 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Plancorp LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 841 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.36. 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, research 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 issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. 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).