Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC Invests $318,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.8% in the third quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,308 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 857,524 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,511,000 after purchasing an additional 55,411 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 457,629 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $20,552,000 after purchasing an additional 14,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 15,958 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $44.52 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.20 and its 200-day moving average is $41.08. The stock has a market cap of $187.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.36. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).