Artemis Investment Management LLP Has $53.03 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,264,418 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 168,138 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $53,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.26. The stock had a trading volume of 27,637,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,928,629. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).