Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Lifted by Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC

Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,475 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 21,176 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $951,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 182.7% during the 3rd quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,476 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 9,356 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 116,005 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,210,000 after purchasing an additional 5,799 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 958,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $43,030,000 after purchasing an additional 61,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 37,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $40.87 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.84 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $172.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Equities 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.64%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).