Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,805 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,719 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $354,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $860,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $545,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 74,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 47.2% during the 1st quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC now owns 16,048 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 5,148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.37 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day moving average of $41.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $186.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).