Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Boosted by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after buying an additional 53,929 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $41.17 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.15 and a 200-day moving average of $41.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.40 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).