Praxis Investment Management Inc. Purchases 16,150 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Praxis Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,835 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,150 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 215,490,064 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,470,788,000 after acquiring an additional 7,276,809 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $15,453,058,000 after acquiring an additional 5,497,598 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,512,228 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $637,812,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905,101 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $161,346,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,848,766 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,983,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965,033 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. William Blair raised Verizon Communications to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $54.00 price target on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $47.38 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $197.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.24. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.39 and a 1-year high of $51.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.86 and a 200-day moving average of $44.15.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $34.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.82 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 12.46%.Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $9,922,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 145,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,196,873.09. The trade was a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,189,100. The trade was a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications 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.