WBH Advisory Inc. Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

WBH Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 61.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,239 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 19,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Unison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 65,308 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 295,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,801,000 after buying an additional 5,188 shares in the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 147,820 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,396,000 after buying an additional 13,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6%

VZ stock opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.06. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.34%.

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).