Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Hoxton Planning & Management LLC

Hoxton Planning & Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sage Capital Advisors llc lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the third quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 132,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,937,000 after buying an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.0% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 373,419 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,770,000 after buying an additional 24,557 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.8% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 48,594 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after buying an additional 5,527 shares during the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $242,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 10.4% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 7,654 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.01 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.62 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $185.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

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).