Montecito Bank & Trust Takes $1.48 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Montecito Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 33,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,484,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its position in Verizon Communications by 549.5% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $29,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 739.5% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 680 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.31.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE VZ opened at $40.86 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $172.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

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).