Emerald Advisors LLC Purchases 2,326 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,106 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 121.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after acquiring an additional 96,931 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $2,799,000. Autumn Glory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.8% in the first quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 62,277 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 12,760 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 95.5% in the first quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 26,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 13,082 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 68.4% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,897 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.53.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.9%

VZ stock opened at $43.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $182.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

About Verizon Communications

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).