NBC Securities Inc. Acquires 670 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 72,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 670 shares during the quarter. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.68 on Tuesday, reaching $43.87. The company had a trading volume of 3,463,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,467,758. 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 52-week low of $30.62 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $184.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.23.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid 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 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

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).