U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 8,932 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,932 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,444,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 26.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 8,368 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. BetterWealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $206,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 361.7% in the 3rd quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 102,810 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,616,000 after buying an additional 80,540 shares during the last quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $451,000. Finally, TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 25.6% in the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 22,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $180.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.97 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).