Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $98.55 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management cut its stake by 12.3% in Q4, leaving it with 2,419,638 Verizon shares worth about $98.55 million.
• Verizon beat Q1 expectations and raised FY‑2026 guidance — adjusted EPS $1.28 (vs. $1.21 consensus), record adjusted EBITDA, first positive postpaid phone net additions since 2013, and FY‑2026 EPS guidance of $4.95–4.99.
• Dividend and capital returns vs. balance‑sheet risk: Verizon raised its quarterly dividend to $0.7075 (annualized $2.83, ~6% yield) and executed ~$2.5B of buybacks, but revenue slightly missed estimates and net leverage rose to ~2.6x after the Frontier deal, raising integration/deleveraging concerns.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,419,638 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 338,903 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.06% of Verizon Communications worth $98,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 9,434 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 1,278 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,284,050 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $52,299,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 3,433 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA now owns 793,686 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $32,327,000 after buying an additional 3,370 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Verizon Communications News

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat, record profitability and guidance raise — Verizon reported adjusted EPS of $1.28 (above consensus), record adjusted EBITDA (~$13.4B), and raised FY‑2026 EPS guidance to $4.95–4.99, supporting upside sentiment. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Subscriber turnaround — Verizon posted its first positive quarterly postpaid phone net additions since 2013 (about +55,000) and roughly 500k total mobility/broadband adds, with materially lower churn — a key catalyst for sustained margin improvement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns & cash flow support shareholder value — Management executed ~$2.5B of buybacks in Q1, free cash flow grew and the company reiterated a strong dividend commitment (~6% yield), reinforcing the income case. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price target moves — Morgan Stanley bumped its target to $50 (equal weight) while Wells Fargo lifted its target to $46 (equal weight), reflecting mixed analyst views about upside vs. near-term constraints. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/marketing initiatives — Verizon is running promotions tied to FIFA World Cup tickets, which can help retention/engagement but have limited direct financial impact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: New tech/service entrants — FCC approval for space-based direct-to-device services (AST SpaceMobile) progresses the ecosystem; impact on Verizon is uncertain but worth monitoring for long-term competition/partnership dynamics. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue headwinds and one‑offs — Q1 revenue (~$34.44B) slightly missed estimates, partly due to one-time customer credits tied to a January outage; top-line growth remains a monitoring item. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure in mobile — Comcast is expanding mobile offerings and T‑Mobile reported its own beat/raised subscriber targets, signaling heightened competition that could pressure ARPU and share if Verizon’s retention discipline slips. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Balance sheet & integration risk — Leverage rose after the Frontier deal (net leverage ~2.6x); management targets deleveraging to ~2.0–2.25x by 2027, but investors should watch cash generation and integration execution. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Williams Trading set a $54.00 price target on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Scotiabank upgraded Verizon Communications from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total value of $429,905.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,976,739.60. This trade represents a 17.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,189,100. This trade represents a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,148 shares of company stock valued at $10,780,356. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $47.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $197.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.95. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.39 and a fifty-two week high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $34.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.79 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 69.02%.

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.

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