Factory Mutual Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 831,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $38,146,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,117,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,289,877 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 41,173,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,743,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,794 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 38,164,982 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,915,882,000 after purchasing an additional 6,580,820 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 32,734,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,643,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,882,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $884,147,000 after buying an additional 1,305,471 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at Verizon Communications
In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total value of $47,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 98,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,251,238. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock worth $516,373 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
More Verizon Communications News
Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Verizon and Ericsson plan a nationwide rollout of AI-powered radio-network automation. Early field deployments reportedly improved downlink throughput by up to 8.9% and uplink throughput by up to 8%, offering a potential boost to network capacity and efficiency. Verizon and Ericsson partner to transform AI-native Autonomous Networks
- Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings strength and Verizon’s customer additions may help reassure investors that the carrier can contend with new rivals; a report notes that Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone customers and points to strong results and raised guidance as evidence of resilience. SpaceX Sent Verizon and T-Mobile Stocks Tumbling—Did Wall Street Overreact?
- Negative Sentiment: SpaceX is reportedly discussing buying Boost Mobile or partnering with it to accelerate entry into wireless, potentially creating a new competitor. The talks remain preliminary, and Boost’s reliance on AT&T and T-Mobile network agreements could complicate a deal, but the prospect has weighed on telecom sentiment. SpaceX reportedly wants to buy Boost Mobile
Analyst Ratings Changes
VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $50.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Freedom Broker upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.05.
Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2%
VZ opened at $45.15 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.68 and a fifty-two week high of $51.68. The company has a market cap of $187.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.79.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.77 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Verizon Communications Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 72.19%.
About Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and digital connectivity services. Through its consumer business, Verizon offers mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and other connected devices, home internet, fixed wireless access, and fiber-optic broadband services under the Fios brand.
Verizon also serves businesses, government agencies, and other organizations with wireless connectivity, private networks, internet and data services, managed communications, cloud and security solutions, and Internet of Things services.
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