Lafayette Investments Inc. Acquires 1,343 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Lafayette Investments Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,602 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,343 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,700,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,983,225,000 after buying an additional 1,172,175 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after acquiring an additional 431,789 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,904,840,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,342 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.18 and a 200 day moving average of $43.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.34%.

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).