Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 590,225 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7%, now owning approximately 11.99 million shares valued at about $544 million.
• Verizon's stock has seen a 1.4% decline recently, with a market cap of $187.14 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.1% and a payout ratio of 63.17%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,996,029 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 590,225 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.28% of Verizon Communications worth $544,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,172,175 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,062,750,000 after acquiring an additional 431,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,555,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE VZ traded down $0.6460 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.3840. 19,108,248 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,005,941. 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 firm has a market cap of $187.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.36. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $42.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.13. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.1%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.17%.

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).