19,591 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Acquired by Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 19,591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.53.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. 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 payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).