Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,974,352 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 296,583 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $88,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 16,023 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Miramar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 445,625 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $20,013,000 after purchasing an additional 88,395 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 9,797 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $440,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 112,609 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,057,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852 shares during the period. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 533,375 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $23,954,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,482,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,991,828. 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 company has a market cap of $175.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $43.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.93 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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).