4,724 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Acquired by Bensler LLC

Bensler LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the second quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on 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 Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.55 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.40 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $170.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).