Nottingham Advisors Inc. Invests $271,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Nottingham Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,565 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after buying an additional 104,447 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Thursday, hitting $41.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,542,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,404,754. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.92 and its 200 day moving average is $40.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

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).