Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Purchases 57,583 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $92,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $678,739,000 after acquiring an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $541,372,000 after purchasing an additional 936,823 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.77 on Friday, hitting $41.36. The stock had a trading volume of 16,682,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,008,018. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.31 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The business's fifty day moving average is $43.17 and its 200 day moving average is $41.36. The company has a market cap of $174.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.56%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).