First Dallas Securities Inc. Has $1.20 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

First Dallas Securities Inc. reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,624 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,643 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,700,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,983,225,000 after buying an additional 1,172,175 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,062,750,000 after acquiring an additional 431,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,904,840,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE VZ opened at $40.03 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $168.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $41.86 and its 200-day moving average is $42.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

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).