Ledyard National Bank Has $651,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ledyard National Bank raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 208.2% in the second quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 544.2% in the second quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Barclays upgraded Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.8 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $36.30. 3,173,969 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,069,355. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $42.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.26, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.27 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 6th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.33%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 53.63%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).