Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $216,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.34 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $176.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).