Hedges Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hedges Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 59,250 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.6% of Hedges Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Hedges Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during 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 buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during 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 buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.17 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.64. The stock has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).