AIA Group Ltd Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

AIA Group Ltd lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 36,020 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $354,000. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $282,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 58,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,446,000 after purchasing an additional 6,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,947,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $165,634,000 after purchasing an additional 270,014 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.55 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.40 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on VZ. 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 report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).