Cable Hill Partners LLC Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,495 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.81 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a 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. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).