Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Baldwin Investment Management LLC

Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,909 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $310,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 74,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Burney Co. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 63,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 6,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the period. Finally, Invst LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $906,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.40 on Thursday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.19 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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).