Ellis Investment Partners LLC Sells 600 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Ellis Investment Partners LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,013 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,114,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.6% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,641,090 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $74,440,000 after buying an additional 313,457 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $5,484,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.9% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 15,205 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $39.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.58 billion, a PE ratio of 9.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.34%.

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).