Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 903,480 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,695 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $40,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 43.3% during the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,515 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 16,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 4,797 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 86,369 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 4,506 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 7,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 793,595 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,299,000 after buying an additional 54,635 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted 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. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $41.78. 9,928,907 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,533,979. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.34 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).