OLD National Bancorp IN Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 325,296 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $889,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $185.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.26 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on VZ. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.31.

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).