Blueshift Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,165 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.40 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $186.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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).