Capital World Investors Sells 5,354,904 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Capital World Investors trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 36.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,157,324 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,354,904 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned approximately 0.22% of Verizon Communications worth $372,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,357,158,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 7,509,055 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 215,490,064 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,470,788,000 after purchasing an additional 7,276,809 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 worth $15,453,058,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,125,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $45.51 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $38.39 and a one year high of $51.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.24.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $34.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.82 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last 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, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 69.02%.

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.