Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 576,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $23,485,000. Verizon Communications comprises 5.2% of Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $2,357,158,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 31,584,162 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,286,423,000 after acquiring an additional 7,509,055 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after acquiring an additional 7,461,335 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 116,570,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,747,930,000 after acquiring an additional 5,851,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,453,058,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Freedom Capital raised Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. 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 report on Monday, March 9th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $47.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.55. The firm has a market cap of $196.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.24.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.The firm had revenue of $34.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 69.02%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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.