Activest Wealth Management Has $220,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,908 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the quarter. Activest Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $354,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 173,742 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,560,000 after buying an additional 1,384 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 6.3% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 112,068 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,702,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 58,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,446,000 after acquiring an additional 10,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88.5% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 81,441 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,417,000 after buying an additional 38,237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.21. 1,074,962 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,459,045. The firm has a market cap of $177.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.50.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).