Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 29,746 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 29,746 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,157,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 333,096,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,954,125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066,003 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 3,448,893 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 79,682,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,134,486,000 after purchasing an additional 562,742 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $33.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $142.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.25 and a 52-week high of $42.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.94 and its 200-day moving average is $36.07.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.83%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Edward Jones cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Profile

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).