Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $103.91 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,313,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 299,718 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $103,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE VZ opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $173.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.81 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.03 and a 200-day moving average of $41.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).