Harbour Investments Inc. Buys 31,930 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 153,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,930 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 328.7% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 50,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 38,434 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 47,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,116,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 588.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after buying an additional 29,033 shares in the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 47.6% in the third quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 28,371 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 9,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 21.6% during the third quarter. Core Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,973 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $35.41 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).