SevenBridge Financial Group LLC Buys 1,523 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

SevenBridge Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 50,376 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,523 shares during the quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 25,699 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 6,273 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 116,950 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,252,000 after acquiring an additional 3,480 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.1% during the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 6,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,432 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 2,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Towercrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $207,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

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).