Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 7,369 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 847,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,369 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $36,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 169.5% during the 1st quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 234,409 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,532,000 after buying an additional 147,414 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 186,190 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,446,000 after buying an additional 25,603 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 128.4% in the first quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.2% during the first quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 34,023 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target 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. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1%

VZ opened at $41.22 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $173.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.27 and its 200 day moving average is $42.52. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $33.82 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).