Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Sells 23,651 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 343,850 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 23,651 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205,449 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,504 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,504,150,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $915,552,000 after buying an additional 3,743,892 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.25.

Trending Headlines about Verizon Communications

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory approvals complete for Frontier acquisition — Verizon expects the transaction to close Jan. 20, bringing roughly 30 million fiber passings and enabling cross‑selling of fiber and 5G services, which could materially expand growth runway and ARPU over time. GlobeNewswire: Approvals to Complete Transaction
• Neutral Sentiment: AST SpaceMobile wins Pentagon contract — headlines lifted ASTS shares and remind investors Verizon has partnerships with LEO satellite providers, which could support future wholesale or coverage initiatives, but the news is primarily a catalyst for ASTS rather than VZ. MarketBeat: Pentagon Deal Sends AST SpaceMobile Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: Widespread outage and $20 customer credits — a multi‑hour nationwide outage tied to a software issue triggered customer complaints and scrutiny; Verizon is offering a $20 redeemable credit to affected users, which raises short‑term costs and reputational risk and has prompted calls for mandatory refunds. This outage is the principal near‑term negative driving sentiment. Investopedia: Why Verizon Customers Are Getting $20 Payouts
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price‑target cut — Sanford C. Bernstein trimmed its VZ target from $46 to $44 and moved to Market Perform, signaling more cautious near‑term expectations; the change tempers upside in the short term. TickerReport / Benzinga: Analyst Price Target Cut

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.95 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $164.23 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.35 and a 12 month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

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.