Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $136.56 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 41.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,040,631 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 896,246 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for about 0.8% of Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $136,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the third quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 26,900 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 2,291 shares during the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 25,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,167,000 after buying an additional 1,713 shares during the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.1% in the third quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 7,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,086,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,780,000 after acquiring an additional 21,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.7% during the third quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 25,818 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,540,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,545,150. The company has a market cap of $175.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.30. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.84 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

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).