Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,109 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Avion Wealth lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 208.2% in the 2nd quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 544.2% in the 2nd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Tigress Financial cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.
View Our Latest Research Report on VZ
Verizon Communications Price Performance
Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,361,158 shares, 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 fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $33.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.47. The company has a market cap of $152.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.40.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.27 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 21.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.34%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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