Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC

Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 38.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,948 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 579,713 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,035,000 after buying an additional 18,346 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank upped 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.5 %

VZ opened at $40.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).