Windle Wealth LLC Sells 6,303 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Windle Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 177,587 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,303 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up about 3.8% of Windle Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Windle Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $174.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.58 and its 200 day moving average is $43.30.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).