Deutsche Bank AG Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank increased its Verizon stake by 6.7% in the second quarter, adding 1.3 million shares to hold approximately 20.9 million shares valued at $884.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 62.06% of Verizon.
• Analysts maintain a broadly cautious outlook, with Verizon receiving a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $50.84; nine analysts rate it Buy while twelve rate it Hold.
• Verizon reported quarterly EPS of $1.30, exceeding estimates, but revenue fell 0.7% year over year to $34.25 billion. The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.7075, equivalent to a 5.6% annualized yield.

Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,882,074 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 1,305,471 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.50% of Verizon Communications worth $884,147,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,357,158,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,117,471,000 after buying an additional 8,289,877 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 31,584,162 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,286,423,000 after buying an additional 7,509,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $9,080,810,000 after acquiring an additional 7,461,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,747,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,851,715 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.68, for a total transaction of $53,548.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 109,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,348,276.88. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $50.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.39 and a twelve month high of $51.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $208.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.25.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.16 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 11.64%.The business's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 73.70%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc NYSE: VZ is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company's consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VZ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source