Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases 11,427 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.1%, acquiring an additional 11,427 shares, bringing its total holdings to 74,539 shares valued at approximately $3.38 million.
• Verizon reported earnings of $1.22 per share for its latest quarter, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.19, with quarterly revenue up by 5.2% year-over-year, totaling $34.5 billion.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 on August 1st, representing an annualized amount of $2.71 and a yield of 6.35%.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 18.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,539 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 11,427 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,951,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,555,351,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,780,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,925,576. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.63. The company has a market cap of $180.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS 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 net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued 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 is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).