Board of the Pension Protection Fund Invests $232,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $38.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $160.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $41.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.76.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.10%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Profile

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).