Quadrant Capital Group LLC Sells 19,150 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Quadrant Capital Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 72,341 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 19,150 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hudock Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 39,842 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 8,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 71,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Camden National Bank grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the second quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 5,666 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the third quarter. Cascade Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,318 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Verizon Communications

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

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded VZ to Outperform and raised its price target to $54.50 after meetings with management — a direct bullish catalyst that supports higher near-term upside and investor confidence. Scotiabank Lifts Verizon to Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer increased its price target to $56 and keeps an Outperform rating (about a ~10% upside from current levels) — another independent upgrade adding analyst-driven buying interest.
• Positive Sentiment: Short interest fell sharply in February (down ~23.5% to ~113.5M shares, ~2.7% of float; ~4.3 days to cover). Less short exposure reduces downside pressure and raises the prospect of short-covering rallies.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage/valuation pieces are drawing attention to recent share-price momentum and relative cheapness given VZ’s earnings/guidance; these articles can attract investors doing deeper due diligence but don’t move fundamentals immediately. Valuation Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Verizon’s presentation/transcript from the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom conference is available — useful for earnings/guidance color but only incremental unless management disclosed new guidance. Deutsche Bank Presentation Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/capital-markets note: Amazon’s massive $37B bond deal highlights renewed large-scale corporate issuance — this can affect broader credit market liquidity and borrowing costs, which are an indirect factor for capital-intensive companies like Verizon. Amazon Bond Sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Opinion pieces (e.g., “3 Stocks I Sold Last Week”) mentioned cutting some resilient/low-growth names — relevance to VZ is unclear without explicit inclusion, but such narratives can pressure investor sentiment in dividend/utility-like names. 3 Stocks I Sold

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Williams Trading set a $54.00 price objective on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.66.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total transaction of $429,905.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,045 shares in the company, valued at $1,976,739.60. This trade represents a 17.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,189,100. The trade was a 16.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $50.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $213.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.73. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $36.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 12.43%.Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.7075 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 68.15%.

Verizon Communications Company 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.