M&G Plc Boosts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

M&G Plc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 838,165 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,942 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $37,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.17 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.40 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).