Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 6,273 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,699 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,273 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average of $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results 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 quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently 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).