CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,041,343 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $45,767,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 95.3% during the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 739.5% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 680 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.4% during the second quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 782 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $428,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,189,100. The trade was a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph J. Russo sold 9,579 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 218,148 shares of company stock worth $10,780,356. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Williams Trading set a $54.00 price objective on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $50.25 to $54.50 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.03.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.9%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $50.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.39 and a twelve month high of $51.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.90.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.900-4.950 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.7075 dividend. This represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.15%.

Verizon Communications 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.