First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 110,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,776 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882,873 shares during the period. Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 419.8% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after acquiring an additional 4,152,099 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

VZ stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $41.12. 6,653,911 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,298,411. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s 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).