American National Bank has increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc., according to the bank’s most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor now holds 188,747 shares of Verizon’s stock, representing a 4.1% increase from the previous quarter. The value of American National Bank’s stake in Verizon Communications is $7,020,000 as of the filing.
Several equities research analysts have provided their opinions on Verizon Communications. Edward Jones downgraded the stock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report released on July 17th. Similarly, StockNews.com also downgraded it from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating on September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon’s stock from $40.00 to $36.00 and assigned it an “equal weight” rating in a research report published on July 20th.
Contradicting these opinions are Oppenheimer, who reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a price target of $43.00 for Verizon’s stock in an August 22nd research note. Raymond James also expressed positivity towards the company, giving it an “outperform” rating and lowering its price target from $51.00 to $42.00 in a research note on July 26th.
Out of fifteen investment analysts that have commented on Verizon’s stock, nine have assigned it a hold rating and six have given it a buy rating. According to Bloomberg.com data, the consensus among these analysts is that Verizon has an average rating of “Hold,” with an average consensus price target of $43.40.
On Tuesday, shares of NYSE VZ opened at $33.54 per share. The company currently has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion and a beta value of 0.36.As for key financial ratios, Verizon Communications has a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.71 and a PEG ratio of 2.04. The business also has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69, and a current ratio of 0.73.
The stock’s 52-week range is $31.25 to $42.58. Additionally, the company has reported a 50-day simple moving average of $33.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.94.
As investors continue to assess Verizon Communications’ performance and prospects, the recent increase in stake by American National Bank may indicate the bank’s confidence in the company’s future success. However, with varying opinions from different research analysts, it is evident that the stock still holds some uncertainty for investors.
Pfizer Inc.
PFE
Strong Buy
Updated on: 27/09/2023
Very Healthy 
Hedge Funds Increase Stakes in Verizon Communications, EVP Sells Shares
Verizon Communications, a leading cell phone carrier, has seen several hedge funds make changes to their positions in the company’s stock. This includes Platform Technology Partners, which increased its stake in Verizon by 2.3% during the second quarter. Similarly, Quad Cities Investment Group LLC raised its stake by 3.8% during the same period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV and Occidental Asset Management LLC also saw increases in their stakes by 13.5% and 4.3% respectively. Additionally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake by 8.7%. It is worth noting that institutional investors and hedge funds now own 61.06% of the company’s stock.
In other news, EVP Samantha Hammock recently sold 12,557 shares of Verizon Communications stock on August 11th for an average price of $33.29 per share, totaling $418,022.53. Corporate insiders currently own just 0.02% of the company’s stock.
Several equities research analysts have commented on Verizon Communications’ stock as well. Edward Jones downgraded it from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on July 17th while StockNews.com also downgraded it from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating on September 5th.These reports were followed by Wells Fargo & Company decreasing their price target from $40 to $36 and giving it an “equal weight” rating on July 20th.Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating with a price target of $43 on August 22nd.Raymond James decreased their price target from $51 to $42 and assigned it an “outperform” rating on July 26th.As of September 19th based on ratings from Bloomberg.com, the consensus view for Verizon Communications is that it is a “Hold”, with an average target price of $43.40.
Verizon Communications announced its quarterly earnings results on July 25th, reporting an EPS of $1.21 for the quarter. This beat the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. The company generated a revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, slightly below analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications achieved a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. However, its quarterly revenue showed a decline of 3.5% compared to the same period last year when it had posted an EPS of $1.31.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on November 1st, with investors on record as of October 10th receiving a dividend payment of $0.665 per share. This represents an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share and equates to an annualized dividend of $2.66 per share, resulting in a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date is set for October 6th.The company’s current payout ratio stands at 52.20%.
In summary, these recent developments in Verizon Communications’ stock positions and executive activities indicate that there may be fluctuations in investor sentiment towards the company’s stock price in the near future. It will be interesting to observe how these changes impact Verizon’s overall performance for the current fiscal year and how it continues to navigate within its industry sector moving forward.
(Note: This article is entirely fictional and does not represent any real events or information.)
Discussion about this post