Forsta AP Fonden Has $47.35 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,054,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,300 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $47,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,717,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,607,941. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.34 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.29. The company has a market cap of $174.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).