Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 206,750 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 4,450 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Wealth Advisors of Iowa LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisors of Iowa LLC now owns 23,133 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. McDonald Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. McDonald Partners LLC now owns 55,118 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,797,000 after buying an additional 6,617 shares during the last quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC now owns 12,494 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 197,236 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $10,010,000 after purchasing an additional 12,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adviser Investments LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Adviser Investments LLC now owns 17,882 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.96% of the company's stock.
Get Verizon Communications alerts:Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Tigress Financial dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a report on Friday, December 16th. Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 24th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications to $43.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.63.
Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %
VZ stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.74. The company had a trading volume of 5,175,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,165,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $175.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.76 and a fifty-two week high of $55.51.Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 24.60% and a net margin of 15.53%. Verizon Communications's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6525 per share. This represents a $2.61 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 9th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.58%.
Verizon Communications Profile
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Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid and prepaid service plans; internet access on notebook computers and tablets; wireless equipment, including smartphones and other handsets; and wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices comprising smart watches.
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