Aljian Capital Management LLC Invests $718,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Aljian Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 15,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $718,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $354,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 62,559 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,625,000 after purchasing an additional 2,753 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 29,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 173,742 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,560,000 after buying an additional 1,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PYA Waltman Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the first quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 22,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.9 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.65 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $43.03 and its 200-day moving average is $41.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.93 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).