Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14,706.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,295 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,854 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6%

VZ stock opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.06.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.34%.

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).