Bank of New Hampshire Has $1.17 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bank of New Hampshire reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,933 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,635 shares during the quarter. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, Vima LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.28 on Friday, hitting $39.96. The company had a trading volume of 10,076,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,701,080. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.91. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).