Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Concentric Wealth Management LLC

Concentric Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 79,730 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Concentric Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,481,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.15 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.56. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).