Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Aviso Wealth Management

Aviso Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,444 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the quarter. Aviso Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.65 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $175.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.93 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.45. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).