Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,667 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 1.4% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $297,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,944.6% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,422,736 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $62,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,835 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,497,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,676,000 after buying an additional 305,670 shares during the period. Finally, ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 8,269 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $33.79 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.25 and a 52 week high of $42.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The company has a market cap of $142.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.87%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.20%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).