Harmony Asset Management LLC Has $1.03 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,932 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,247 shares during the quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during 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 last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.85 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.70. 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 fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $184.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 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).