Stephens Inc. AR Grows Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 295,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,188 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.06. 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 has a market capitalization of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

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).