Independence Bank of Kentucky Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,253 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,317 shares during the quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,602,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $362,027,000 after purchasing an additional 341,056 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.24. The company had a trading volume of 27,639,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $173.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.02. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).