Public Sector Pension Investment Board Has $8.23 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 183,305 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,900 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.34 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $186.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, 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 quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.91 and a 200-day moving average of $41.69.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change 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 6.12%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).