Webster Bank N. A. Purchases 1,426 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 55,259 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management increased its position in shares of 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 worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.24. The company had a trading volume of 27,639,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $173.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).