Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires 408 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,355 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 408 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Burney Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 63,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after buying an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88.5% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 81,441 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,417,000 after purchasing an additional 38,237 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 668,900 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $28,067,000 after purchasing an additional 46,000 shares during the last quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,227,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.1% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,560 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 5,634 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.66.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business 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 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).