Verizon Slides as Dow Exit and New Q2 Charges Weigh on Shares

Verizon Communications (VZ) is down 7.1% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The sharp move appears tied to a pair of negatives landing at the same time: Verizon was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average before the June 29 open, which can trigger mechanical selling by index-linked funds, and the company also disclosed a sizable second-quarter loss tied to its new international joint venture with BT. Together, those developments likely added both technical and fundamental pressure to the stock.

Details:

S&P Dow Jones Indices said Alphabet replaced Verizon in the Dow effective before the market opened on June 29, ending Verizon’s membership in the price-weighted index.

Because the Dow is price-weighted, deletion can force funds and products tied to the index to sell shares around the effective date, creating short-term pressure unrelated to day-to-day operating results.

Verizon announced a 50:50 joint venture with BT that combines parts of their international businesses into a new company focused on multinational connectivity services.

In connection with that transaction, Verizon said it expects to record an estimated second-quarter loss of about $700 million to $800 million after classifying contributed assets as held for sale, with additional transformation-related charges also expected.

Sources:

S&P Global, Verizon, SEC

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$VZ Insider Trading Activity

$VZ insiders have traded $VZ stock on the open market 6 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 6 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $VZ stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

HANS ERIK VESTBERG has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 225,000 shares for an estimated $11,163,150.
SAMANTHA HAMMOCK (EVP & Chief HR Officer) sold 73,069 shares for an estimated $3,495,036
JOSEPH J. RUSSO (EVP&Pres-Global Networks&Tech) sold 9,579 shares for an estimated $429,905
MARY-LEE STILLWELL (SVP and Controller) sold 8,569 shares for an estimated $428,450

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

$VZ Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 1,625 institutional investors add shares of $VZ stock to their portfolio, and 1,573 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO removed 11,992,540 shares (-28.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $488,456,154
GQG PARTNERS LLC removed 9,124,130 shares (-17.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $371,625,814
MORGAN STANLEY added 9,070,852 shares (+14.0%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $455,356,770
BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ added 8,289,877 shares (+15.4%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $416,151,825
STATE STREET CORP removed 8,097,671 shares (-3.6%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $406,503,084
BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORP added 6,580,820 shares (+20.8%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $330,357,164
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC added 6,330,991 shares (+21.3%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $317,815,748

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$VZ Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $VZ stock 5 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 4 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $VZ stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE LLOYD SMUCKER sold up to $15,000 on 04/23.
REPRESENTATIVE GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR. purchased up to $15,000 on 04/14.
REPRESENTATIVE JENNIFER L. MCCLELLAN sold up to $250,000 on 04/07.
REPRESENTATIVE PETE SESSIONS sold up to $15,000 on 03/09.
SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE sold up to $15,000 on 02/23.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard. You can access data on congressional stock trades through the Quiver Quantitative API Congress trades endpoint.

$VZ Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $VZ recently. We have seen 11 analysts offer price targets for $VZ in the last 6 months, with a median target of $50.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Lyaysyan Sedova from Freedom Broker set a target price of $53.0 on 06/12/2026
Sebastiano Petti from JP Morgan set a target price of $52.0 on 04/30/2026
Benjamin Swinburne from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $50.0 on 04/28/2026
Eric Luebchow from Wells Fargo set a target price of $46.0 on 04/28/2026
Kannan Venkateshwar from Barclays set a target price of $47.0 on 03/31/2026
Michael Rollins from Citigroup set a target price of $55.0 on 03/20/2026
Maher Yaghi from Scotiabank set a target price of $54.5 on 03/09/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.