First Personal Financial Services Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Personal Financial Services increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the quarter. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,091,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after acquiring an additional 104,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $541,372,000 after acquiring an additional 936,823 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.48 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.40 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).