Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Position Increased by Johnson Financial Group Inc.

Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 126,367 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 176,219 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,993,000 after acquiring an additional 14,338 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 150.1% in the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,387 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 14,035 shares in the last quarter. Independence Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 663,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,076,000 after acquiring an additional 23,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.8%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.90 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

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).