Premier Fund Managers Ltd Invests $8.12 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 181,000 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $8,122,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $678,739,000 after buying an additional 104,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $541,372,000 after buying an additional 936,823 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on VZ. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,900,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,485,357. 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $42.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).