Hanlon Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hanlon Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5 %

VZ opened at $41.26 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.37. 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 released 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. 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 6.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).