Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 228,116 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 983,054 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 228,116 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 0.6% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $40,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Patron Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 15,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 10.3% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 81,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,379,000 after purchasing an additional 7,656 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 580,970 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $23,959,000 after purchasing an additional 3,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 5,389 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,100,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,511,424. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.53. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).