Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 8,351 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 123,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,351 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 354,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,975 shares in the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 267,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $57,000. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the third quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 18,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 41.7% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 631,725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,371,000 after purchasing an additional 185,793 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.31 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.56%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).