Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd Has $516,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 100.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 6,029 shares during the period. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of VZ opened at $41.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $173.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

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).