West Oak Capital LLC Purchases 295 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 295 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,602,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $362,027,000 after purchasing an additional 341,056 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE VZ traded down $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.10. The stock had a trading volume of 21,656,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,928,711. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.09.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Company 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).