Second Line Capital LLC Purchases 3,016 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Second Line Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 44.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,811 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,016 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 24,158 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 26,331 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 548,527 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $20,679,000 after acquiring an additional 13,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.09.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.89 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.76 and a 200-day moving average of $40.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $188.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $45.05.

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 net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications 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).