Nordea Investment Management AB Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.6%, acquiring an additional 49,416 shares, bringing its total holdings to 8,734,229 shares valued at $372.4 million.
• A number of institutional investors have significantly boosted their holdings in Verizon, with GQG Partners increasing its stake by an impressive 303.9% in the first quarter alone.
• Verizon has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.69 per share, reflecting a 6.8% yield, and will be paid on November 3rd to shareholders of record by October 10th.

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,734,229 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 49,416 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.21% of Verizon Communications worth $372,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 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 worth $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.38 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $170.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.28 and a 200-day moving average of $43.13. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, analysts predict 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 paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 64.34%.

Verizon Communications Company 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.