Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Lifted by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 416,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 101,000 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $18,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. UBS Group boosted their price target on 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 boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.36 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.31 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $174.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.36.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.56%. 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 payout ratio is presently 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).