Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Buys 890 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,546 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 890 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,417,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $63,648,000 after buying an additional 17,463 shares in the last quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 8.3% in the third quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 135,903 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,103,000 after acquiring an additional 10,454 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,313,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $103,911,000 after purchasing an additional 299,718 shares in the last quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.4% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 78,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,513,000 after buying an additional 6,051 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.39 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.41. The firm has a market cap of $170.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.41 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).