Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 129,171 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $222,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 112.6% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after buying an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after buying an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,951 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $170.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.40 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.37.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).