Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,234 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,500,000 after acquiring an additional 129,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 579,713 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,035,000 after acquiring an additional 18,346 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.01 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.41. 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 $35.93 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).