Planned Solutions Inc. Purchases 1,176 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Planned Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,606 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. Planned Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,829,675,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 255.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,058,216 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,893,493,000 after purchasing an additional 34,553,565 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,876,978 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 12,189,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 21.4% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James reduced their price objective 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. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. 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.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.94. The company has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend 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 payout ratio is currently 52.20%.

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).