Northeast Investment Management Has $1.04 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Northeast Investment Management raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,196 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,913 shares during the quarter. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windle Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $41.51. 12,729,713 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,347,732. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $174.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

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).