Meeder Asset Management Inc. Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 539.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,825 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,256 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $178.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.20 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.41%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).