Greenwich Wealth Management LLC Has $1.86 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Greenwich Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,495 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the third quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 32,010 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 23.4% during the third quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 20,466 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 3,877 shares in the last quarter. Visionary Horizons LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 14.7% during the third quarter. Visionary Horizons LLC now owns 24,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 3,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lakeside Advisors INC. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $216,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.36. 16,682,363 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,606,289. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $35.31 and a one year high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).