111 Capital Invests $815,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

111 Capital bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 18,828 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $815,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares during the period. Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $2,799,000. Autumn Glory Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 62,277 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 12,760 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 95.5% in the 1st quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 26,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 13,082 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 68.4% in the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,897 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6%

VZ stock opened at $43.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $184.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.53.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).