Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Has $587,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 59.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,958 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,207 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,479,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Finally, Windle Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.75. 1,495,623 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,480,961. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

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).