17,827 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Acquired by Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC

Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 17,827 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hudock Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 39,842 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the second quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Camden National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 5,666 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 30,150 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.90 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a PE ratio of 8.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of 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. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).