Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,228 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted 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 during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,592,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the second quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $40,149,000 after acquiring an additional 53,929 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.99 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.26 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.27. The firm has a market cap of $185.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. 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 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).