Financial Avengers Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Financial Avengers Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 69,076 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,926 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 1.5% of Financial Avengers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Financial Avengers Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC now owns 11,657 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 192,750 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,633,000 after buying an additional 2,980 shares during the last quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 31,728 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $178.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.46.

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).