Advisortrust Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 16,231 Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Advisortrust Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,231 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $2,357,158,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 31.2% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 7,509,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,080,810,000 after buying an additional 7,461,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,851,715 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $15,453,058,000 after buying an additional 5,497,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE VZ opened at $45.44 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.66. 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 has a market capitalization of $189.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.24. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $38.39 and a one year high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $34.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a 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%.

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.