Profund Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Profund Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,305 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,801 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Avion Wealth lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 208.2% in the second quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 544.2% in the second quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $36.73 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.44. The stock has a market cap of $154.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.27 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 21.26%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. 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 7.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.63%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).