Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Makes New $880,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 65.8% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 2,663,502 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $119,618,000 after buying an additional 1,056,863 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 199,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,968,000 after acquiring an additional 23,711 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 172,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,760,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 561,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,212,000 after purchasing an additional 89,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.0% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 196,104 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,807,000 after purchasing an additional 12,777 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.53. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).