Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,809 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,256 shares during the quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 4,615,075 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,983,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,322,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,062,750,000 after purchasing an additional 431,789 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.46.

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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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).