Garrison Point Advisors LLC Has $580,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Garrison Point Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,904 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 474 shares during the period. Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.86 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.05 and a 200-day moving average of $41.29. The company has a market cap of $176.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.34 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current 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 represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).