German American Bancorp Inc. Purchases 371 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

German American Bancorp Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,387 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the quarter. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.22 on Thursday. 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 twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.50. The firm has a market cap of $177.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.42%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).