Teacher Retirement System of Texas Reduces Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

03 Jul 2025, 13:02 by Amy Steele · The Cerbat Gem

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 17.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,508,346 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 312,723 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $68,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,393,000 after acquiring an additional 76,083 shares during the period. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $82,996,000 after purchasing an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.25.

View Our Latest Research Report on Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $183.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.24.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Verizon Communications Profile

(Free Report)