Tredje AP fonden Has $44.39 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Tredje AP fonden boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 42.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,025,912 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 305,200 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $44,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% in the second quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after purchasing an additional 722,559 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth approximately $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.82. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).