Qsemble Capital Management LP Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 33,083 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $1,486,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.31 on Tuesday, reaching $44.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,486,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,489,064. The firm's 50 day moving average is $42.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.59. 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 has a market cap of $186.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 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).