Verizon is considered a potential value trap by many financial analysts.
Although there are some bullish perspectives.
And while Verizon does offer a high dividend yield and a seemingly low valuation metrics, the concerns stem from the high debt levels of Verizon, along with slow growth of revenue, operational challenges and also a declining asset turnover ratio, which also point to fundamental weakness in Verizon.
Verizon carries a huge amount of total debt, which raises concerns about the financial stability of Verizon.
And indicators like a low Altman Z-score and a declining asset turnover ratio also suggest potential distress and declining operational efficiency.
Verizon's revenue and free cash flow growth have also been inconsistent and have seen declines in recent years.
And the high dividend payout ratio with Verizon has also been concerning in the past, which raises questions about their sustainability.
Although Verizon often appears undervalued based on metrics such as price to earnings and dividend yield, which suggests potential for a re-rating by the market.
Institutional Investors are who owns most of Verizon Stock although the largest individual institutional shareholder of Verizon Stock is Vanguard Group, Inc, who owns around 8.8% of Verizon Stock and BlackRock, Inc owns around 8.4% to 6.1% of Verizon Stock and State Street Corporation owns around 4.9% of Verizon Stock.
Verizon is owned by a mix of institutional investors, like BlackRock and Vanguard Group as well as individual investors and not a single entity.
The majority of Verizon's shares are owned by institutional investors, and individuals make up a significant portion of the remaining share-holders of Verizon.
The major shareholder of Verizon is the Vanguard Group.
And BlackRock is another significant institutional owner of Verizon.
Although a substantial portion of Verizon is owned by the general public through individual investors and retail investors.
A small percent of shares in Verizon is owned by company insiders like board members and executives.
Verizon is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and their mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the United States.
Verizon Wireless is an American Wireless network operate which previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless.
Verizon is headquartered in New York City and they have 146.1 million subscribers.
The Verizon company was formed in 1983 as Bell Atlantic as a result of the breakup of the Bell System into seven companies, each a Regional Bell Operating Company and was commonly referred to as "Baby Bells".
The company was also originally headquartered in Philadelphia and operated in the states of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
And in 1997, Bell Atlantic also expanded into New York and the New England states by merging with fellow Baby Bell Nynex.
And while Bell Atlantic was the surviving company, the merged company moved their headquarters from Philadelphia to NYNEX's old headquarters in New York City.
And in 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE, which operated telecommunications companies across most of the rest of the country that was not already in Bell Atlantic's footprint.
Bell Atlantic, the surviving entity then changed their name to Verizon.