Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Has $556,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 43.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,374 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,772 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,500,000 after buying an additional 129,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 579,713 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,035,000 after buying an additional 18,346 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised 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. 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).