Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,580 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 6,336 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 222.2% in the second quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.46. The stock has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).