Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by AMF Tjanstepension AB

AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 644,761 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $78,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. 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 research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

VZ stock opened at $45.04 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.06. The company has a market capitalization of $189.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.02%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).