HCR Wealth Advisors Has $450,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

HCR Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,026 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $961,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,262,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $85,295,000 after purchasing an additional 56,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 919,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,587,000 after acquiring an additional 21,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,658,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,587,283. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.22. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.62 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $181.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.26.

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).