Eagle Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 684,908 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 59,387 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $30,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $273,507,000 after buying an additional 3,481,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $536,791,000 after buying an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.15. 17,017,421 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,570,672. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.53. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.37.

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).