Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Ridgepath Capital Management LLC

Ridgepath Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1,093.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 135,464 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 124,109 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 4.9% of Ridgepath Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Ridgepath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Motiv8 Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 21,722 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $976,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 689,842 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $30,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,090 shares in the last quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 47,279 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 39,873 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $327,832,000 after acquiring an additional 53,739 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1 %

VZ stock opened at $41.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.30. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.34 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. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.55%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).