Bar Harbor Wealth Management Purchases 963 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 158,206 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,159.1% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.85 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.99 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).