Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Shares Down 3.2% – What’s Next?

Posted by Francis Steltz on Sep 18th, 2026

Verizon Communications logo Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report)’s share price fell 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $49.33 and last traded at $49.8280. Approximately 24,198,201 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 27,338,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.45.

Key Stories Impacting Verizon Communications

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

Positive Sentiment: Turnaround and fiber expansion support the long-term case. New CEO Dan Schulman has overseen an improvement effort since taking over last October, while Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications has expanded its fiber-broadband footprint. Is Verizon the Year’s Best Telecom Stock?
Positive Sentiment: New enterprise communications offering adds a modest growth catalyst. Verizon and Siyata PTT are launching the SD7 Ultra 5G push-to-talk handset for mission-critical users, extending their relationship and potentially supporting specialized business connectivity revenue. Siyata PTT and Verizon to Launch SD7 Ultra 5G Push-to-Talk Handset
Positive Sentiment: Income and valuation remain attractive to defensive investors. Verizon’s mature, cash-generating telecom business supports its dividend, with coverage and relatively low volatility helping appeal to income-focused shareholders. Verizon Stock: Connecting Investors To Value Along With 5.6% Yield
Neutral Sentiment: Recent outperformance raises questions about future leadership. Verizon has gained substantially year to date and recently outperformed growth-oriented communications stocks, but analysts caution that telecom-led market leadership may reflect defensive positioning rather than a durable growth cycle. Verizon and AT&T Dominate Communications Services. Why That’s a Problem.
Negative Sentiment: Verizon fell despite an overall market uptick and lagged competitors. The latest decline may reflect profit-taking after its strong year-to-date performance, along with investor preference for higher-growth areas. No new earnings warning or material operational problem was cited in the reports. Verizon Communications Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $52.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.97.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $47.70 and its 200-day moving average is $47.54. The firm has a market cap of $200.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.26.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.98, for a total transaction of $54,978.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,326,168.68. This represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,400 shares of company stock valued at $219,142. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. State Street Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,168,080,000 after buying an additional 867,694 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,289,877 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,357,158,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,915,882,000 after acquiring an additional 6,580,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

(Get Free Report)

Verizon Communications Inc is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and related technology services. Its offerings include mobile voice and data plans, 5G connectivity, fixed wireless access, fiber-optic internet through Verizon Fios, home services, and connected-device solutions.

Through Verizon Business, the company serves enterprises, government agencies, and other organizations with communications networks, managed connectivity, cybersecurity, cloud and edge-computing services, unified communications, and Internet of Things solutions.