Platform Technology Partners Purchases 624 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Platform Technology Partners lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,108 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the quarter. Platform Technology Partners’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $3,446,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448,893 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 339,775 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.70 and a 200-day moving average of $35.94. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.25 and a 12-month high of $42.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.71, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 11th. The stock was 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 accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. Citigroup upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.40.

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).