Beta Wealth Group Inc. Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Beta Wealth Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,537 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $338,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $35.40 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).