Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Phillips Wealth Planners LLC

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,270 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,017 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 2,402 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 11,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 105,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,424,000 after buying an additional 11,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 545,873 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $22,905,000 after buying an additional 7,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.34. The company has a market cap of $174.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.31 and a 1 year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Company 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).