Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 83,365 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 46,973 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.
Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %
NYSE VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average of $41.55. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).
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