IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 34,695 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 903,480 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,695 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $40,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 7,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 151,477 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,803,000 after purchasing an additional 3,684 shares during the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 83,993 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,772,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 89,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 8,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,370,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James upped their price objective 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. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of VZ traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $41.78. The stock had a trading volume of 9,928,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,533,979. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.34 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.05 and its 200 day moving average is $41.29. The firm has a market cap of $175.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.49%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

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).