Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Sittner & Nelson LLC

Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,809 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 112.6% in the 1st 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 period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in 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. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.55 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.40 and a twelve month high of $45.36. 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 market cap of $170.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.69%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on VZ shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).