Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $15.46 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

by · The Markets Daily

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 344,367 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,051 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises about 0.6% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on VZ

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.29 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.02 and its 200-day moving average is $41.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.20 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $178.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Profile

(Free Report)

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).

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