McIlrath & Eck LLC Acquires 1,680 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $178.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44.

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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.46.

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).