39,651 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Acquired by Algert Global LLC

Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 39,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,781,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $44.40 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.90 and a 200 day moving average of $41.64. The stock has a market cap of $186.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change 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 6.11%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

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).