Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 78.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,041,869 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,087,186 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $353,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 379,402,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,453,058,000 after acquiring an additional 5,497,598 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,951,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,080,810,000 after purchasing an additional 7,461,335 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 5,851,715 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,632,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,168,080,000 after purchasing an additional 867,694 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,357,158,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Verizon Communications News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Verizon beat Q2 adjusted EPS estimates at $1.30 versus $1.27 expected, helped by record EBITDA margins and stronger cash generation. Verizon earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its full-year 2026 guidance for adjusted EPS, mobility and broadband service revenue, and free cash flow, signaling management confidence in the outlook. Reuters guidance article
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon posted better-than-expected subscriber momentum, including 184,000 postpaid phone additions and more than 550,000 total mobility and broadband net adds, showing the core business is improving. Verizon press release
• Positive Sentiment: Free cash flow rose 24.4% and Verizon expanded its full-year buyback target to as much as $4.5 billion, both supportive of shareholder returns. Verizon press release
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon also announced a more than $1 billion dark fiber deal with Google for AI data centers, suggesting potential upside from infrastructure demand and additional AI-related contracts. Reuters Google deal article
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue came in below Wall Street expectations and was slightly lower year over year, so top-line pressure is still a concern. Verizon earnings report
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity was unusually heavy, with traders buying more call options than normal, which may reflect speculative bullish positioning rather than fundamental news. GuruFocus earnings call highlights

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Dbs Bank downgraded Verizon Communications from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Freedom Capital upgraded Verizon Communications to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.03.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 5.7%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $46.34 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.39 and a 12-month high of $51.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.16 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.990-5.040 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 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.