Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 199,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,711 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.57 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.37%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).