Wealth Alliance LLC Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Wealth Alliance LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 68,484 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing 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 large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.66. The company has a market capitalization of $171.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).