Mattern Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,720 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 2,424 shares during the quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 211.6% in the second quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,515,955 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $584,800,000 after purchasing an additional 7,820,187 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,131,882 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,341,192,000 after acquiring an additional 6,042,854 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $181,862,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $540,193,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Verizon Communications by 30.0% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,763,481 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $952,245,000 after purchasing an additional 4,324,722 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.96% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications to $43.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,064,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,284,646. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.76 and a 1-year high of $55.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 24.60% and a net margin of 15.53%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6525 per share. This represents a $2.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 9th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.58%.

Verizon Communications Profile

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Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid and prepaid service plans; internet access on notebook computers and tablets; wireless equipment, including smartphones and other handsets; and wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices comprising smart watches.

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