LPL Financial LLC Has $404.98 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

LPL Financial LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,943,079 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 98,834 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Verizon Communications worth $404,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,357,158,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 31,584,162 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,286,423,000 after buying an additional 7,509,055 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 7,276,809 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $15,453,058,000 after buying an additional 5,497,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $217,125,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.59.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $45.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $190.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.39 and a 1 year high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $34.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.82 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.950-4.990 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.7075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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.