Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 211.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,961 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 13,543 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after buying 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 stake in Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 4,568,518 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.2%

VZ stock opened at $42.84 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $180.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.17%.

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).

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