Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Holdings Raised by Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC

Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 136.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 17,254 shares during the quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,504,150,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after purchasing an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205,449 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $915,552,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $113,004,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VZ. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:VZ opened at $38.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.35 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.