Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by LVW Advisors LLC

LVW Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,418 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 9,295 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 419.8% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after buying an additional 4,152,099 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six research 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE VZ opened at $41.24 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.07 and a 200-day moving average of $40.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $173.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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