Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 11.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 297,338 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 30,986 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, September 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of VZ traded down $0.20 on Wednesday, reaching $43.88. The stock had a trading volume of 16,883,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,722,184. 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 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $45.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The company's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).