Lincluden Management Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Lincluden Management Ltd. decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 255,529 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,551 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises 1.2% of Lincluden Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Lincluden Management Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position 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 valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 14.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,114,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 14.5% during the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 22,314 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares during the last quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 13.0% during the first quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 3,688 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Powers Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the first quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 13,155 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.86 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.25. The company has a market capitalization of $168.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. 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 quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. 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. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

About Verizon Communications

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).