Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,985,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 67,118 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $89,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America lifted 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. 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 report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $175.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $35.40 and a one year high of $45.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.17 and its 200 day moving average is $41.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.52%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).