Syverson Strege & Co Invests $592,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Syverson Strege & Co acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,677 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $372,000. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bordeaux Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. GAM Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $433,000. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 70.4% in the 2nd quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 581,400 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,157,000 after purchasing an additional 240,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 159,085 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,884,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.77 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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).