HORAN Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 79,021 Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

HORAN Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 79,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $3,419,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,434,572,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0%

VZ opened at $39.72 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.73. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $167.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).