Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,060 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,054 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 111,717 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,834,000 after acquiring an additional 8,571 shares during the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 47,131 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 415,464 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $17,977,000 after purchasing an additional 9,120 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 34.4% during the 2nd quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 207,578 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,982,000 after purchasing an additional 53,137 shares during the period. Finally, Kiker Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kiker Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE VZ opened at $40.57 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $171.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.34%.

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).