RoundAngle Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

RoundAngle Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 28,635 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,145,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after buying an additional 502,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VZ opened at $38.86 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).