Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co Has $215,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,451 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after acquiring an additional 104,447 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $541,372,000 after buying an additional 936,823 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $43.79. 3,877,894 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,454,715. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.99 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $184.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.25.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.19%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).