B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Invests $16.95 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 377,323 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $16,945,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. UBS Group increased 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $42.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.20 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors 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 dividend yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).