Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Stock: Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Stake

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 278,321 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 29,937 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised 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 valued at $3,117,471,000 after purchasing an additional 8,289,877 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,580,820 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.1% during the second 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 worth $1,743,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,794 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $184,260,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $132,893,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seventeen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.48, for a total transaction of $48,928.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 99,966 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 9,900 shares of company stock valued at $469,073 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $47.35 and its 200-day moving average is $46.68. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.68 and a 1 year high of $51.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%.

More Verizon Communications News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone subscribers—its strongest third-quarter performance in five years—and 137,000 postpaid accounts. Broadband net additions reached 314,000, supporting the company’s growth strategy. Verizon Delivers Another Record-Breaking Quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.31 per share exceeded the $1.27 consensus estimate, while adjusted EBITDA margins improved and free cash flow totaled $7.8 billion. Verizon also raised its 2026 outlook for adjusted EPS, postpaid phone additions and free cash flow. Verizon Beats Q3 Earnings Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: A more than $2 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services will expand Verizon’s fiber and distributed-computing infrastructure for artificial-intelligence workloads, creating a new enterprise growth opportunity. Verizon Lifts Outlook and Inks Amazon Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Management said SpaceX’s Starlink could complement Verizon through partnerships, but becoming a major U.S. wireless competitor would require substantial terrestrial infrastructure and investment. Verizon CEO Discusses Starlink Cooperation
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue rose 1.5% to $34.31 billion, missing the $34.77 billion analyst estimate. The revenue miss overshadowed the earnings beat and raised concerns about Verizon’s limited top-line growth in a mature telecom market. Why Verizon Stock Is Down
• Negative Sentiment: Several Wall Street firms lowered their price targets following the results, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, TD Cowen, Citigroup and Daiwa, although some retained buy ratings and still see upside from current levels. Verizon Analysts Cut Their Forecasts

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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.