Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,456,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 239,086 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,589,000. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 324,274 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $13,373,000 after purchasing an additional 5,218 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 20.0% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 60,300 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after purchasing an additional 10,030 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.2% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 7,977 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 9,204 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $178.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).