Key Points
- Insider sale: SVP Mary‑Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 Verizon shares at an average of $50.00 for $428,450, cutting her stake by 16.37% to 43,782 shares (about $2.19M) as disclosed in an SEC filing.
- Dividend increase: Verizon raised its quarterly dividend to $0.7075 ($2.83 annualized), a ~5.6% yield, with an ex‑dividend date of April 10 and payment on May 1.
- Earnings and guidance: The company reported $1.09 EPS and $36.38B revenue for the quarter (beating estimates), set FY2026 guidance of $4.90–4.95 EPS, while analysts model ~4.69 EPS and a consensus price target near $49.02.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,189,100. The trade was a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.
Verizon Communications Price Performance
VZ opened at $50.86 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $43.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.10.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.7075 per share. This represents a $2.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.15%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verizon Communications
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 7,843 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 35.9% during the 2nd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 6,365 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 51,036 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,208,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EPG Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. EPG Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,175 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Verizon Communications
Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Verizon demonstrated a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) proof-of-concept at MWC Barcelona with Aptiv and Wind River that used Verizon’s 5G + edge compute to share real‑time sensor data between vehicles, highlighting concrete enterprise use cases (automatic emergency braking, cooperative driving) that could translate into new connected‑vehicle revenue streams for Verizon Business. Verizon V2X Trial Highlights 5G Edge Potential Aptiv/Wind River press release
- Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference — investor outreach that can help clarify strategy and guidance but contains no headline surprises in the summary provided. Conference transcript
- Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of AST SpaceMobile’s big revenue beat was noted in the newsfeed; while AST’s scale could be complementary to space-based cellular initiatives, any direct impact on Verizon is speculative at this point. AST SpaceMobile revenue story
- Negative Sentiment: Broader market weakness tied to escalation fears in the U.S.-Iran situation sent major indexes lower, a headwind for equities generally that can pressure shares even of defensive telecom names like VZ. Market coverage
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: SVP Mary‑Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares at about $50.00 (a ~16.4% reduction in her holdings) — a routine executive sale that may be viewed neutrally by some investors but can apply short‑term downward pressure on sentiment. SEC filing: Insider sale filing
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.02.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on VZ
About Verizon Communications
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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