Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 255,942 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,512 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 50.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,876 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,357,000 after buying an additional 14,090 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,951,000. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,596,929 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $84,166,000 after buying an additional 131,182 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,491,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $12,154,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.24. The stock had a trading volume of 27,639,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. The company has a market capitalization of $173.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

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).