M&G Plc Raises Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

M&G PLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 838,165 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 68,942 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $37,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the second quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James increased 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $40.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,374,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,495,580. The company has a market capitalization of $171.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.37.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS 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 $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change 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 6.65%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).