LGT Group Foundation raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 342,973 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 21,591 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $51,126,000 after purchasing an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,100,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.35.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%
Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.18 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.88. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $182.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.
Verizon Communications Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 63.17%.
About Verizon Communications
(
Free Report)
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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