Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Acquired by Wealth Alliance LLC

Wealth Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 68,484 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 13,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 1,322,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $57,218,000 after acquiring an additional 191,700 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,570,963 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $67,976,000 after acquiring an additional 236,241 shares during the period. Wealth Quarterback LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 23.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 23,402 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after buying an additional 4,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 322,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,936,000 after acquiring an additional 3,705 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.72 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 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.66. The firm has a market cap of $171.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).