Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 457,015 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 16,876 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $20,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 30.2% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,619 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 194,039 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,710,000 after buying an additional 10,916 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 183,305 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,232,000 after buying an additional 20,900 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,955,603 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $132,736,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 78,856 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,541,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $44.38. 12,372,354 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,515,400. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.64. 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 company has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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).

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