Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 6,273 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,699 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,273 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.90 and a 200 day moving average of $41.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).