Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Acquires 56,242 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,948,472 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,242 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $459,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

VZ stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.11. 1,009,038 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,798,734. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.09.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).