Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,921 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 100.6% in the second quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 12,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 6,029 shares in the last quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 97,840 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 97,860 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 49.0% in the 2nd quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 34,444 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 11,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,885,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $514,265,000 after purchasing an additional 512,099 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.22 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.54. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).