USA Financial Formulas Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,199 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,687 shares during the quarter. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $541,372,000 after buying an additional 936,823 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.13 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.62 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.51 and its 200 day moving average is $41.20. The company has a market cap of $185.75 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

About Verizon Communications

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).