Securian Asset Management Inc. Has $9.54 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,424 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,571 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.06. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.34%.

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).