Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Acquired by NWF Advisory Services Inc.

NWF Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 468.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,113 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,657 shares during the quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $16,130,494,000 after buying an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,009,388,000 after acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $2,504,150,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 1st 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE VZ opened at $40.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.31.

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).