DT Investment Partners LLC Buys 893 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,250 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 893 shares during the quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew 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 worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $41.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $176.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.34 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. 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 yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).