Allen Capital Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,784 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 15,009 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $222,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.15. The stock had a trading volume of 17,004,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,504,627. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James upped 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.37.

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).