Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Acquired by Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA

Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 394,428 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares during the quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $17,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after acquiring an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% during the second quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after purchasing an additional 722,559 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $166.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

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).