Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during 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 during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $177,799,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $38.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.56 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.81.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.96%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications 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).