Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 129,171 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Verizon Communications worth $222,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Montecito Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the third quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 34,831 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,564,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 204,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the last quarter. US Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,312 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 38.4% in the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.55 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.40 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.15 and a 200-day moving average of $41.37. 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 market cap of $170.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost 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 yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).