WealthPLAN Partners LLC Sells 1,272 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

WealthPLAN Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,857 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,272 shares during the quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

VZ opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications 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).