HORAN Wealth LLC Invests $3.42 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

HORAN Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 79,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $3,419,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.72 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.73. The stock has a market cap of $167.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).