Cypress Capital Group Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cypress Capital Group lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 43.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 44,089 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,392 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.5% during the 1st quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 4,683 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 208,558 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,460,000 after purchasing an additional 10,642 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 208,664 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,465,000 after purchasing an additional 11,525 shares during the period. Finally, Cove Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,063 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.69 and a 200 day moving average of $42.85. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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