Conning Inc. Sells 33,585 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Conning Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 774,503 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 33,585 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $34,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 6,543 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 43,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,905,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Avantra Family Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the third quarter. Avantra Family Wealth Inc. now owns 16,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Sharp Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $248,000. Finally, BostonPremier Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $235,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.83 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.82. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.94 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $167.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors shrugged off the outage and the stock rose as traders emphasized fundamentals and dividend stability over the service disruption. Verizon’s outage may have annoyed users, but it didn’t bother investors
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/commentary pieces highlight Verizon as a dividend/turnaround play that could attract income-focused buyers, supporting demand for the shares. The Smartest Dividend Stocks to Buy With $10,000 Right Now
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic initiatives — notably Verizon’s push in 5G-enabled digital healthcare and enterprise services — are cited as potential medium-term growth drivers that offset one-off operational problems. Can Verizon’s Digital Healthcare Initiatives Boost Its Market Shares?
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon Business won industry recognition (Medallia Expy Awards), a modest reputational positive for enterprise services and customer experience messaging. Medallia Honors Global Experience Leaders with 2026 Expy Awards
• Neutral Sentiment: Verizon updated terms on performance-based equity awards for executives — governance/compensation detail that investors will note but that is unlikely to move the stock materially by itself. Verizon Updates Executive Performance-Based Equity Award Terms
• Negative Sentiment: Outage scale reported as roughly 175,000 affected customers in some feeds; visible service interruptions (SOS/no bars) increase near-term reputational risk and could spur customer complaints. Verizon Outage Hits Around 175,000 Customers
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple major outlets and outage trackers (Downdetector) logged spikes and widespread reports across cities — a reminder of operational vulnerability that could prompt inquiries or require remediation spending. Verizon’s network down for thousands of users in US, Downdetector shows
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage from the WSJ, Forbes, Business Insider and Financial Post documents outages in major metros (NY, LA, Seattle, Miami), highlighting potential customer impact and short-term service disruption. Verizon Users Experience Outages Nationwide Verizon Outage: Reports Of Issues Spike Verizon outage hits users across US Verizon Users Report Service Outage Affecting Thousands

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.47.

Verizon Communications Profile

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.