Chicago Capital LLC Acquires 1,027 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Chicago Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,578 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the quarter. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,159.1% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.99 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $185.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.94 and a 200-day moving average of $41.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $31.26 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 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).