Marshall Wace LLP Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 153.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,806,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,700,619 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.07% of Verizon Communications worth $115,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.91.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

VZ stock opened at $44.26 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.53 and a 200 day moving average of $40.82. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.05. The firm has a market cap of $186.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).