Monterey Private Wealth Inc. Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Monterey Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.6% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 48,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 3,412 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 679,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $28,020,000 after buying an additional 56,534 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,334,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 74.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 162,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,698,000 after acquiring an additional 69,328 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).