Country Club Bank Sells 2,804 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Country Club Bank lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,804 shares during the quarter. Country Club Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 grew its stake in shares of 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. grew 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 worth $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $41.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $174.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.17%.

Verizon Communications 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).