Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Buys 316,726 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,720,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 316,726 shares during the quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $122,177,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $44,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on VZ shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.38 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).