Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $14.46 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 29.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 334,261 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 139,150 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,274.6% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,917,508 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $82,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,675 shares during the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 53.0% during the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 23,393 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,012,000 after buying an additional 8,106 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 69,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,019,000 after acquiring an additional 7,465 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 847,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $36,687,000 after acquiring an additional 7,369 shares during the period. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 31,430 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.29 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $169.88 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).