Griffith & Werner Inc. Purchases Shares of 139,853 Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 139,853 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,000. Verizon Communications makes up 3.3% of Griffith & Werner Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Miramar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 452,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,904,000 after acquiring an additional 11,009 shares during the last quarter. Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $511,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the third quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 152,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,690,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,177,088 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $227,533,000 after buying an additional 726,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 94,735 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,164,000 after buying an additional 6,787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $9,922,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 145,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,196,873.09. This trade represents a 57.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.88, for a total transaction of $429,905.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 44,045 shares in the company, valued at $1,976,739.60. The trade was a 17.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.02.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $50.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.39 and a 12-month high of $51.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 12.43%.The firm had revenue of $36.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $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. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 68.15%.

Key Stories 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

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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.