Fortitude Family Office LLC Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 152.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,662 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,056 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 132.2% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,124 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 8,612 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 5,233,692 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $235,542,000 after acquiring an additional 176,820 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 343,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,405,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 506.3% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 84,633 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,543,000 after acquiring an additional 70,675 shares during the period. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 151.9% in the third quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,063 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 10,892 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of VZ opened at $41.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $175.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.84 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on 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 and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).