MAI Capital Management Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

MAI Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 984,942 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,396 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $42,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 549.5% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.76 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications 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).