Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 173.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 254,487 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 161,559 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

VZ traded up $0.09 during trading on Thursday, hitting $42.08. 11,149,384 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,359,039. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.85. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $177.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.44%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 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).