Wellington Management Group LLP Buys 1,251,947 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,479,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,251,947 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $281,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the period. Third Point LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 419.8% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after buying an additional 4,152,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $166.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.89. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).