Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 6,275 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,275 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,159.1% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.77 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.62 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $184.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.25.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.26.

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).