ABN Amro Investment Solutions Buys Shares of 565,819 Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 565,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $24,483,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $619,000. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 422,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $18,286,000 after purchasing an additional 9,174 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,430,000. Hudock Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 39,842 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,724,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 641,593 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $27,762,000 after buying an additional 28,199 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.72, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).