First Bank & Trust Has $4.64 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,824 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for 1.0% of First Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Third Point LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 419.8% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $193,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.24. 27,639,192 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $173.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

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).