Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 364,181 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 30,316 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $16,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the third quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup upped their price target 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. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.28. 13,296,181 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,338,080. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.14 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $42.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.85.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 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).