Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from TD Cowen

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its price target dropped by TD Cowen from $56.00 to $55.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the cell phone carrier’s stock. TD Cowen‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 26.95% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.50 to $50.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.47.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

VZ stock traded up $0.22 on Tuesday, reaching $43.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,984,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,335,012. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.65. Verizon Communications has a 12-month low of $38.68 and a 12-month high of $51.68. The firm has a market cap of $180.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.77 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.48, for a total value of $48,928.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 99,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,446,487.68. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 9,900 shares of company stock valued at $469,073 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 62,101,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,117,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,289,877 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.8% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 38,164,982 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,915,882,000 after acquiring an additional 6,580,820 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 41,173,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,743,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,794 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 32,734,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,643,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,882,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $884,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Key Verizon Communications News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong customer additions and raised outlook: Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone subscribers and 137,000 postpaid accounts in the third quarter, its strongest third-quarter phone performance in five years. Management raised its 2026 forecasts for adjusted EPS, free cash flow and postpaid phone additions. Verizon third-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings and AI infrastructure deal: Adjusted earnings of $1.31 per share exceeded the $1.27 consensus estimate, while Verizon signed an agreement valued at more than $2 billion with Amazon Web Services to provide infrastructure supporting AI workloads. The company also reported improving margins, strong cash flow and broadband growth. Verizon outlook and Amazon deal
• Neutral Sentiment: SpaceX threat viewed as longer term: CEO Dan Schulman said Verizon could work with satellite providers such as Starlink to supplement wireless coverage, but does not intend to let SpaceX use Verizon’s network to compete directly for mobile customers. He suggested SpaceX could be years—and require substantial investment—away from becoming a major U.S. wireless rival. Verizon CEO on Starlink
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss overshadowed operating gains: Third-quarter revenue rose 1.5% year over year to $34.31 billion, below the $34.77 billion analyst estimate. The top-line miss outweighed the EPS beat, contributing to the stock’s decline and reinforcing concerns about Verizon’s limited growth in its mature core business. Why Verizon stock is down
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution remains: Morgan Stanley lowered its price target from $52 to $50 and maintained an “equal weight” rating, while broader sell-side coverage remains centered on “hold” recommendations. Morgan Stanley Verizon rating

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and digital connectivity services. Through its consumer business, Verizon offers mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and other connected devices, home internet, fixed wireless access, and fiber-optic broadband services under the Fios brand.

Verizon also serves businesses, government agencies, and other organizations with wireless connectivity, private networks, internet and data services, managed communications, cloud and security solutions, and Internet of Things services.