Sara Bay Financial Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sara Bay Financial boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,870 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,468 shares during the quarter. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Finally, Windle Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.12 on Monday, reaching $40.73. 9,397,099 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,648,658. The firm has a market cap of $171.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

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).