Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,762,705 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 151,100 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 0.8% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $121,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% in the second quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after acquiring an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after acquiring an additional 722,559 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 110.7% in the 2nd quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,142,000 after purchasing an additional 26,017 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.47.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $171.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.