Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 640,736 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,417,007 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 640,736 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 1.1% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of Verizon Communications worth $633,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Tobias Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $282,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 112,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,924,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,645,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $160,202,000 after buying an additional 188,314 shares during the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,989 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Little House Capital LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the third quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 41,220 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,812,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.93.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE VZ opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.58. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $38.39 and a one year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.34.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Profile

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.