New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 209,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,300 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. USS Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 713,156 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,790,000 after acquiring an additional 31,354 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.6% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. now owns 317,284 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,434,000 after purchasing an additional 25,156 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,382,975 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $97,059,000 after purchasing an additional 316,854 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.0% during the second quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 184,170 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,798,000 after purchasing an additional 103,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keudell Morrison Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $2,171,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.84.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $50.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market cap of $208.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.39 and a 12 month high of $51.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 73.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total transaction of $55,066.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 108,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,444,825.96. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.