Maridea Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Maridea Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 53.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,228 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 7,056 shares during the quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $16,700,279,000 after acquiring an additional 4,347,416 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,983,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its position 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 valued at $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,062,750,000 after purchasing an additional 431,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,904,840,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,342 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $182.79 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for 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%.The company's revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 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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