Business Insights and Market Implications Summary

Stock Performance (May 2025)

• VZ stock rose 0.3% to $44.27 on Wednesday, with mid-day trading volume at 2,402,566 shares, an 88% decrease from its daily average.
• Updated performance: VZ traded down $0.29 to $43.60 on Thursday, with a volume of 14,950,283 shares.

Analyst Ratings

• Consensus: "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $47.41 (MarketBeat.com).
• Recent upgrades:
  • Tigress Financial increased target from $55.00 to $56.00 ("buy").
  • Evercore ISI upgraded to "outperform" with a $48.00 target.
  • Scotiabank increased target from $48.50 to $49.00 ("sector perform").
  • Deutsche Bank increased objective from $40.00 to $42.00 ("hold").

Financials

• Market cap: $184.42 billion.
• P/E ratio: 10.57, PEG ratio: 4.45, Beta: 0.39.
• Debt-to-equity: 1.21, Current ratio: 0.63, Quick ratio: 0.59.
• 50-day moving average: $43.72, 200-day moving average: $41.97.

Earnings (April 22nd)

• EPS: $1.19 (beat estimates of $1.15).
• Revenue: $33.50 billion (beat estimates of $33.31 billion).
• Net margin: 12.99%, Return on equity: 19.80%.
• Analyst forecast: $4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dividend

• Quarterly dividend: $0.6775/share (annualized $2.71).
• Yield: 6.20%, Payout ratio: 64.52%.
• Ex-dividend date: April 10th; Payment Date: May 1st.

Insider Activity

• CEO sold 7,500 shares at $43.88 on April 30th for $329,100 (28.29% reduction).
• EVP sold 10,000 shares at $43.79 on February 25th for $437,900 (40.88% reduction).
• Total insider sales: 31,500 shares valued at $1,376,300 over the last quarter.
• Insiders own 0.10% of the stock.

Institutional Ownership

• 62.06% of stock owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• Significant increases in holdings by:
  • Bernard Wealth Management Corp.
  • Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC.

Company Overview

• Verizon Communications Inc. provides communication, technology, information, and entertainment products/services.
• Operates through Verizon Consumer Group and Verizon Business Group segments.
• Headquartered in New York City, with $131.9 billion revenue in 2019.
• Approximately 120 million retail subscribers in 2019.
• Employs approximately 135,000 people.

New Prepaid Plan (May 2025)

• Verizon launched a prepaid plan offering 15GB of data for $45/month ($35 with autopay).
• Includes access to 5G network, hotspot capability, and service in Canada and Mexico.
• No annual contracts or cancellation penalties.

Partnership with Tennis Associations (2025)

• Verizon became the first telecom partner of ATP and WTA in the U.S.
• Partnership covers multiple U.S. tennis events and provides Verizon with integrated access to Tennis Channel's distribution ecosystem.

5G Positioning

• 5G service covers approximately 400 thousand square miles in the U.S., through 231 million points-of-presence (POP).

Tallahassee Outage (May 2025)

• Verizon outage impacted 15 towers in Tallahassee due to a third-party fiber cut.
• Affected services: Data, voice, text, and wireless home internet.
• Service expected to be restored by Saturday morning.

Insider Selling (May 2025)

• CEO sold 9,000 shares at $44.10 on May 7th for $396,900 (47.35% reduction).