GSG Advisors LLC Buys 395 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GSG Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,231 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. GSG Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Significant Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Significant Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,744 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,027,809 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $85,087,000 after purchasing an additional 561,887 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 26,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 140.5% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,614 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 19,051 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.40 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).