Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 125,611 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 6,851 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $354,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 173,742 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,384 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 96.6% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 26,957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 13,247 shares in the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 20,709 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 42.2% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 720,017 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $30,212,000 after purchasing an additional 213,510 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.20 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $178.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.41%. 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 is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased 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. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on 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 research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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).