Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,886 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,005 shares during the period. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $250,312,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Verizon Communications by 112.6% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 153.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,806,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $115,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,619 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $184.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.81 and its 200 day moving average is $41.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.99 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change 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 6.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

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).