West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 50,762 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,427,000. Verizon Communications makes up 2.7% of West Branch Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 265,904,768 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,074,340,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,290 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 48,749,993 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,580,337,000 after acquiring an additional 6,007,544 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,135,441 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,172,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,685 shares in the last quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,390,896 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,132,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 14,115,327 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $747,124,000 after acquiring an additional 729,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.68% of the company’s stock.
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Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 25th. Vetr downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.49 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 3rd. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 12th. Finally, SunTrust Banks upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 25th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $54.55.
In other Verizon Communications news, SVP Anthony T. Skiadas sold 1,974 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.44, for a total transaction of $97,594.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,006.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
Verizon Communications opened at $48.50 on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.98. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.80 and a fifty-two week high of $54.77. The stock has a market cap of $198.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.63.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.06. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 42.62% and a net margin of 24.37%. The company had revenue of $31.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.87%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.10%.
Verizon Communications Company Profile
Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, offers communications, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental agencies worldwide. The company's Wireless segment provides wireless voice and data services; Internet access on various notebook computers and tablets; multimedia, business-focused, and location-based services, as well as international travel services; and network access services to deliver various Internet of Things products and services.
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