ABN Amro Investment Solutions Sells 96,160 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

ABN Amro Investment Solutions cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 469,659 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 96,160 shares during the quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $20,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,504,150,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $915,552,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $113,004,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. William Blair upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.02.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE VZ opened at $49.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.93. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.39 and a 52 week high of $50.24.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total value of $429,905.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,976,739.60. This represents a 17.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.