McIlrath & Eck LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,680 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position 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 position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).