Quad Cities Investment Group LLC Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Quad Cities Investment Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 333,096,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,954,125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066,003 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,325,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,446,395,000 after buying an additional 3,448,893 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 80,022,393 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,105,742,000 after buying an additional 339,775 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after buying an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.25 and a 12 month high of $42.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.94. The company has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 52.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. HSBC lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Edward Jones lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total transaction of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).