Secured Retirement Advisors LLC Buys 866 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Secured Retirement Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,686 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 33,827 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 92.5% during the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 3,790 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 79,163 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,592,000 after acquiring an additional 21,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 651,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $29,560,000 after buying an additional 11,875 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of VZ opened at $41.44 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $174.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The company had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Verizon Communications has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.636-4.728 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

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).