Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,430 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 246,177 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 18,444 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $394,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 101,117 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,374,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 86.1% in the second quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 144,109 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,236,000 after acquiring an additional 66,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,145,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.3%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. 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 currently 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

About Verizon Communications

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).