Eagle Asset Management Inc. Acquires 59,387 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 684,908 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,387 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $30,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after buying an additional 3,481,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after buying an additional 2,040,247 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of 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).