New World Advisors LLC Has $286,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

New World Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,607 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the quarter. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after buying an additional 96,931 shares during the period. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,046,000 after acquiring an additional 336,190 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,551,000 after acquiring an additional 722,559 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 39,445 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $41.22 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $173.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.54.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. BNP Paribas Exane cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).