Aviso Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Aviso Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,444 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. 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 acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position 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 position 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 position 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 position 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.65 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.93 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.45.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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).