Vinva Investment Management Ltd Has $12.87 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,055 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,290 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advantage Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.90 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.07 and a 200-day moving average of $42.46. The company has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for 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%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).