Prospect Financial Services LLC Has $1.25 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Prospect Financial Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,866 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,248 shares during the period. Prospect Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advantage Trust Co grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the second quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective 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. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. 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. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. 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).