Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by MGO One Seven LLC

MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,679 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,449 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.75 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.82.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).