Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Purchases 11,525 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Staley Capital Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.8% in Q1, owning 208,664 shares valued at approximately $9.46 million.
• Following recent earnings, Verizon reported $1.22 EPS, surpassing estimates, and generated a revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter.
• Verizon declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 6.3%.

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,664 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 11,525 shares during the quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st 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 position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.03 on Monday, reaching $43.18. The company had a trading volume of 12,908,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,313,446. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.88. The company has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a 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 a consensus price target of $47.35.

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).