GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $412,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,166 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 936,823 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $41.38 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $174.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.34 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.30.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. 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 6.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

About Verizon Communications

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).