Accordant Advisory Group Inc Purchases 450 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 137.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective 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. Eight equities research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.51 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.26 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. The company has a market cap of $174.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, 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 Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.53%. 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 is presently 101.12%.

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).