BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 59.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 805,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 301,635 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $33,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 153.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,806,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $115,729,000 after buying an additional 1,700,619 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 78,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,225,000 after buying an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Finally, Resources Management Corp CT ADV grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 80,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,311,000 after buying an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $45.05.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. 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 6.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 101.12%.

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).