World Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 508,807 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 827.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 570,314 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 508,807 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $25,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.80 and a 200-day moving average of $41.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $178.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).