Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 758 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,137 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.62 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.21. The stock has a market cap of $180.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.63%.

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).