TruWealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,140 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 859 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.99 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $185.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.65.

Verizon Communications 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).