Should You Consider Buying Verizon (VZ) Shares?

Weitz Investment Management, an investment management firm, published its “Hickory Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. A return of +6.54% was recorded by the fund in the fourth quarter of 2021, outperforming its Russell Midcap benchmark that delivered a +6.44% return. For the calendar year, the Fund returned +20.32% compared to +22.58% for the index. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Weitz Investment Management Hickory Fund in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and discussed its stance on the firm. Verizon Communications Inc. is a New York, New York-based telecommunications company with a $225.8 billion market capitalization. VZ delivered a 3.52% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -2.45%. The stock closed at $53.79 per share on February 3, 2022.

Here is what Weitz Investment Management Hickory Fund has to say about Verizon Communications Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“After several quarters of pandemic-induced outsized growth, new broadband connection growth has slowed for U.S. cable operators. This slower growth has coincided with a renewed push by competitors like Verizon and AT&T to offer high-speed data (either via wireless connects or by building new fiber-optic networks).”

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Our calculations show that Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. VZ was in 57 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 63 funds in the previous quarter. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) delivered a 3.74% return in the past 3 months.

In January 2022, we published an article that includes VZ in the 5 Best Dividend Paying Stocks According to David Harding’s Winton Capital Management. You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.