Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Bought by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,086,918 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,956 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $90,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after acquiring an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,551,000 after acquiring an additional 722,559 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 39,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.44 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $162.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.99.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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).