Qsemble Capital Management LP Invests $1.49 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,486,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.9 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.98 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.13 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.17%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).