Spire Wealth Management Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Spire Wealth Management lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,357 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 7,843 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 83,102 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,596,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 13,732 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the second quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 36,625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,585,000 after buying an additional 5,315 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

More Verizon Communications News

Here are the key news stories impacting Verizon Communications this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Federal court granted Verizon a preliminary injunction blocking a T‑Mobile ad campaign that promised large savings to switch — a competitive win that protects Verizon’s customer messaging and could limit aggressive poaching by a rival. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Citi recently raised its price target to $55, signaling some analyst conviction behind upside potential and supporting the narrative that Verizon’s cost cuts and acquisition could boost margins. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Verizon as a top dividend stock and management’s actions (CEO Dan Schulman’s cost cuts and the Frontier acquisition) reinforces the income/turnaround thesis that has supported the rally earlier this year. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays raised its price target to $47 (maintaining an “Equal Weight” rating), citing signs of a subscriber turnaround and telecom’s defensive appeal — the move is a mild vote of confidence but the PT still sits below the current market price, so its net impact is mixed. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Verizon set its Q1 2026 earnings date for April 27. The upcoming report and webcast present a catalyst for renewed volatility as investors look for subscriber trends and progress on margin targets. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Verizon is a trending stock on some retail/coverage sites (Zacks, Business Insider), which can increase attention and trading volume but doesn’t directly change fundamentals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The company raised the price on a heavily discounted customer offer — a potential short-term revenue boost but a risk for churn if customers react negatively, which could weigh on subscriber-growth confidence. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent data show notable insider selling activity and some large institutional reductions in recent quarters — these flows can add selling pressure or at least create caution among investors. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Williams Trading set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Scotiabank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $50.25 to $54.50 in a report on Monday, March 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.56.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, Director Hans Erik Vestberg sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $7,196,873.09. This represents a 57.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mary-Lee Stillwell sold 8,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were 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 $2,189,100. The trade was a 16.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 218,148 shares of company stock valued at $10,780,356 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $50.15 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $47.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.35. 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 52-week low of $38.39 and a 52-week high of $51.68. The company has a market cap of $211.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $36.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.20 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 19.03%. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $2.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.15%.

About Verizon Communications

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.