Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,271,363 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 134,638 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Verizon Communications worth $461,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $541,372,000 after purchasing an additional 936,823 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $170.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.41 and a 52 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 earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).