Leo Wealth LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Leo Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,204 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 22,258 shares during the quarter. Leo Wealth LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 worth $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.35 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.30.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business'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. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 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).

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