First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 2,776 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,776 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $41.12. 6,653,911 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,298,411. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $173.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.12.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).