Versor Investments LP Buys 26,800 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 143.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,800 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,703 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.3% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 126,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,462,000 after purchasing an additional 5,227 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the second quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 43,657 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538 shares during the last quarter. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the second quarter. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin City Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the second quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC now owns 25,652 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).