Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Venture Visionary Partners LLC

Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 138,476 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $292,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $231,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 741,766 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $29,663,000 after purchasing an additional 117,021 shares during the period. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.3%

VZ opened at $44.37 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.69 and a 200-day moving average of $43.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $187.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.1%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.35.

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).