68,072 Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by AIA Group Ltd

Key Points

• AIA Group cut its Verizon stake by 22.9%, selling 68,072 shares in the third quarter; it retained 229,359 shares valued at about $10.5 million.
• Verizon reported quarterly EPS of $1.31, beating the $1.27 consensus, while revenue of $34.31 billion fell short of expectations. Its annualized dividend is $2.83 per share, a yield of approximately 6.3%.
• Analysts have a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $51.05; 13 rate the shares Buy and 16 rate them Hold.

AIA Group Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 229,359 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 68,072 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8,917.5% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,280 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 10,166 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $2,713,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Integrity Alliance LLC. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 41.4% during the third quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 74,735 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,428,000 after acquiring an additional 21,896 shares during the period. Finally, Integrity Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.3% during the third quarter. Integrity Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 18,460 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 6,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total transaction of $47,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,251,238. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock worth $516,373. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $45.15 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $46.85 and its 200-day moving average is $46.79. The company has a market cap of $187.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.68 and a 52-week high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were given a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.19%.

Key Stories Impacting Verizon Communications

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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Arete Research cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $50.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and sixteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.05.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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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