Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 132,786 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZFree Report) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,396,634 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,786 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $55,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Center For Asset Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 27,606 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 13,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $526,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,345,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $53,804,000 after acquiring an additional 387,309 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $332,000. Finally, Apexium Financial LP boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 19,192 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 7,121 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.64 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.44.

Read Our Latest Analysis on VZ

Verizon Communications Profile

(Free Report)

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).

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ)

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