Verity Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

30 Jun 2025, 16:54 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

Verity Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 23.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,274 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in 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 period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of VZ opened at $42.32 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.21. The company has a market cap of $178.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

View Our Latest Research Report on VZ

About Verizon Communications

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