Coastwise Capital Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Coastwise Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,269 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,149 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up 1.7% of Coastwise Capital Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Coastwise Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $177,799,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.34 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $186.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).