Cullen Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Cullen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,538,098 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,121 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $66,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,504,150,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after purchasing an additional 4,615,075 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,009,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205,449 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $915,552,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743,892 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.91 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings cut Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.31.

About Verizon Communications

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).