GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $297,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,944.6% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,422,736 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $62,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,835 shares during the last quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 80,219 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,983,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 137,737 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steel Peak Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Steel Peak Wealth Management LLC now owns 414,334 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,409,000 after purchasing an additional 22,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. Barclays upgraded Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Tigress Financial decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on VZ
Verizon Communications Price Performance
Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.23. 19,361,158 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,131,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.68. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $42.58. The company has a market cap of $152.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.30, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $33.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.47.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 6th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 53.63%.
About Verizon Communications
(Free Report)
Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).
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