Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Invests $170,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $170,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Little House Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 47,562 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,136,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares in the last quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 22.5% in the third quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 50,381 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,263,000 after purchasing an additional 9,249 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the third quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 5,686 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 53,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,390,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 37,857 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $43.69. 8,724,855 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,368,703. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $183.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.27. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.26 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

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).