Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,104 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,777 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, hitting $41.96. 611,847 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,475,188. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.49.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. Bank of America boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).