Capital International Inc. CA Invests $5.29 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Capital International Inc. CA bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 120,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $5,292,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 28,188,066 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,238,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,445 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 192,039 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,441,000 after buying an additional 31,204 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 296,601 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,885,000 after buying an additional 48,960 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 364,992 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,998,000 after acquiring an additional 12,637 shares during the period. Finally, Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp now owns 54,629 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 934 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore boosted 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.66.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $50.66 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.39 and a 1-year high of $51.41. The firm has a market cap 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 moving average of $45.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 EPS 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 net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total transaction of $429,905.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,976,739.60. The trade was a 17.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $9,922,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 145,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,196,873.09. This trade represents a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications News Roundup

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

Verizon Communications 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.