Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Invests $4.74 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Liontrust Investment Partners LLP has invested approximately $4.74 million in 104,447 shares of Verizon Communications Inc. during the 1st quarter.
• Several significant investments have been made by other institutions, with GQG Partners LLC increasing its stake by 303.9% during the same period.
• Verizon Communications recently reported earnings of $1.22 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend yielding 6.2%.

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 104,447 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $4,738,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $183.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.91. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 63.17%.

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).

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