Hourglass Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hourglass Capital LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Hourglass Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.8 %

VZ opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.03 and its 200-day moving average is $41.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.81 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).