Old West Investment Management LLC Purchases 38,634 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Old West Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 400.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,634 shares during the quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after buying an additional 7,461,335 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,747,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,851,715 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,168,080,000 after acquiring an additional 867,694 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,117,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,289,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,357,158,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.68, for a total value of $53,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,348,276.88. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4%

VZ opened at $50.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $208.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.58 and its 200 day moving average is $47.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.39 and a fifty-two week high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 11.64%.The business had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Moffett Nathanson cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.84.

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.