Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 73,592 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,970 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Solitude Financial Services boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Solitude Financial Services now owns 27,944 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.8% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 19,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 2,961 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,985,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $89,163,000 after buying an additional 67,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 9,226,214 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $414,349,000 after buying an additional 1,188,090 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.40 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.60%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).