Americana Partners LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Americana Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,307 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings 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, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.41 on Friday, hitting $41.72. 5,899,071 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,555,883. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.31 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.50%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).