Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,995 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.4% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 307,514 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,682,000 after acquiring an additional 29,082 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 36,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.7% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 152,304 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 24,016 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 60.9% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,272 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,197,000 after buying an additional 20,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Research & Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the second quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 100,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,133,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America upped their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.69. The company has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month 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, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio 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).