First Dallas Securities Inc. Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,464 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 50.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,876 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 14,090 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,951,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,596,929 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $84,166,000 after acquiring an additional 131,182 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,491,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,154,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.24. 27,639,192 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.

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).