Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $29.48 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in Q2, owning 681,188 shares valued at approximately $29.48 million.
• Verizon reported better-than-expected earnings for Q2 with an EPS of $1.22, surpassing forecasts of $1.19, alongside a revenue of $34.50 billion compared to $33.47 billion estimated.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.69, effective November 3rd, raising the annualized dividend yield to 6.4%.

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 681,188 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 28,539 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $29,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of 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, Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE VZ opened at $43.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.59 and a 200-day moving average of $43.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company 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%.Verizon Communications's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.17%.

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).

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