Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Verizon Communications by 39.0%, now holding 10,353 shares valued at $448,000 at the end of the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Verizon, with GQG Partners LLC raising its stake by 303.9% during the first quarter.
• Verizon has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.69 per share, reflecting a yield of 6.3%, with the next payment scheduled for November 3rd.

Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 39.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,353 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 6,608 shares during the quarter. Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. GQG Partners LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on 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, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.65.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.99 on Friday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $43.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $185.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.