Moors & Cabot Inc. Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 196,104 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 12,777 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $222,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 579,713 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $26,035,000 after purchasing an additional 18,346 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.22. 14,701,812 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,537,789. The stock has a market cap of $177.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm's fifty day moving average is $42.98 and its 200-day moving average is $41.49. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.42%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. 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 currently 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).