Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Purchases 629 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $45.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $45.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $189.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.24 and a 200-day moving average of $40.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Company 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).