Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.0%, acquiring 193,136 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to over 2.3 million shares worth approximately $106.6 million.
• Several analysts upgraded their ratings for Verizon, with JPMorgan and Royal Bank of Canada raising their price targets from $47 to $49 and $45 to $46 respectively, while Wall Street Zen moved their rating from "hold" to "buy."
• Verizon reported $1.22 EPS and $34.50 billion in revenue for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and achieving a year-over-year revenue increase of 5.2%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,349,606 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 193,136 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Verizon Communications worth $106,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7%

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $44.24. The company had a trading volume of 14,788,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,254,744. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $43.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 63.17%.

About Verizon Communications

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).