Swiss National Bank Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 46,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.30% of Verizon Communications worth $561,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $273,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 37.9% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.65. The stock had a trading volume of 21,482,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,991,828. The business's 50 day moving average price is $43.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.93 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $175.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's 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).