State of Alaska Department of Revenue Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

24 Dec 2023, 14:46 by Michael Walen · The Markets Daily

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 672,247 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 21,170 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $21,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Avion Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 208.2% in the 2nd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 544.2% in the 2nd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Tigress Financial dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.09.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on VZ

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 3,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.29, for a total transaction of $127,888.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,772,635.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 3,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.29, for a total transaction of $127,888.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,772,635.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 23,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $888,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 49,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,886,130. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $37.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.73. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $42.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.27 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.63%.

About Verizon Communications

(Free Report)

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).

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