Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $91.77 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,120,904 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 21,552 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $91,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 222.2% in the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of VZ opened at $40.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $169.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.89.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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).