Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Has $1.72 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,250 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 651 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.9% in the first quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 144,195 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,889,000 after buying an additional 23,960 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 67.2% in the first quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 4,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Penbrook Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the first quarter. Penbrook Management LLC now owns 30,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.9% in the first quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 16,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,168,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,524,129. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.84 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.30. The company has a market cap of $175.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. 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. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped 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. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

About Verizon Communications

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).