Wasatch Advisors LP Has $4.27 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wasatch Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 95,108 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,042 shares during the quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the third quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,294 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the period. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 173.9% during the third quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,097 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 11,491 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 124,094 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 3,520 shares during the period. William Allan Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 16.7% during the third quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 9,898 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,114,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $44.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $186.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).