Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Buys 64,625 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 717,222 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 64,625 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 0.8% of Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $32,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.28. 8,086,311 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,500,346. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $186.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $42.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).