Kestra Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 75,182 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 75,182 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $3,376,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. 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. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.34. 9,023,148 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,530,046. The stock has a market cap of $186.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $42.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. 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).