Railway Pension Investments Ltd Buys 46,000 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 668,900 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,000 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $28,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Lee Financial Group Hawaii Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Lee Financial Group Hawaii Inc. now owns 15,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,775 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 7,333 shares in the last quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 1,201,066 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $45,280,000 after purchasing an additional 128,600 shares during the last quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,557,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.68.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $40.97. 26,124,914 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,305,414. The firm has a market cap of $172.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.49. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.49%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).