Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,603,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 22,772 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.09% of Verizon Communications worth $140,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 333,096,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,954,125,000 after buying an additional 2,066,003 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,325,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,446,395,000 after buying an additional 3,448,893 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 80,022,393 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,105,742,000 after buying an additional 339,775 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after buying an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.06% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Edward Jones lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.40.
Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.3 %
Shares of VZ stock opened at $34.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $33.88 and its 200-day moving average is $36.04. The stock has a market cap of $143.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.81, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.25 and a 52-week high of $42.61.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.20%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications
In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.
About Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).
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