West Family Investments Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,684 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,940 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of VZ opened at $42.17 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $36.20 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.47. The company has a market capitalization of $177.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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).