Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,565 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after acquiring an additional 502,949 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.03 and a 200-day moving average of $41.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).