Wrapmanager Inc. Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,351 shares during the quarter. Wrapmanager Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after acquiring an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $541,372,000 after acquiring an additional 936,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $178.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.20 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.41%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).