Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,859 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,262,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $85,295,000 after acquiring an additional 56,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 919,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,587,000 after acquiring an additional 21,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE VZ opened at $43.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $181.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.62 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.63%.

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).