Equitable Trust Co. Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Equitable Trust Co. decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,289 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 352 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Edmp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 47,131 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 415,464 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $17,977,000 after acquiring an additional 9,120 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 34.4% in the 2nd quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 207,578 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,982,000 after acquiring an additional 53,137 shares during the last quarter. Kiker Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kiker Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 109,874 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,754,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.57 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $171.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.37 and a 200-day moving average of $43.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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).