Blueshift Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,165 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 112.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $44.40 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.64. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $186.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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).