Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Boosted by Clarity Financial LLC

Clarity Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,873 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,022 shares during the period. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. United Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after acquiring an additional 11,135 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.8% in the third quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 73,592 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.4% in the third quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Solitude Financial Services boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.8% in the third quarter. Solitude Financial Services now owns 27,944 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $41.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $172.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.40 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid 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 6.60%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).