Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 110,241 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,238,413 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,241 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.10% of Verizon Communications worth $190,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.93 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid 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 6.51%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).