Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Buys 1,725 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,368 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,725 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $250,312,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after buying an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 153.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,806,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $115,729,000 after buying an additional 1,700,619 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.87 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.05 and a 200-day moving average of $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $32.97 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $180.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price 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. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently 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).