D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 3,528 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 512,669 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,528 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $22,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 849.8% during the second quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 19,766 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 516,737 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $22,359,000 after purchasing an additional 7,453 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 59.5% during the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 31,208 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 11,647 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 12.7% during the second quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.29 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.34%.

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).