Auto Owners Insurance Co Buys 398,611 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3,973.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 408,644 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 398,611 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $16,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,357,158,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 31,584,162 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,286,423,000 after acquiring an additional 7,509,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after purchasing an additional 7,461,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,747,930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,851,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,453,058,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497,598 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $45.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $189.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.39 and a 1 year high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $34.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.82 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Scotiabank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Company 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.