Advisors Capital Management LLC Has $31.48 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 198.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 727,528 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 483,815 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $31,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the second quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $173.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications 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).