BetterWealth LLC Acquires New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

BetterWealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,596 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.04. The stock had a trading volume of 6,030,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,471,867. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.97 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.01 and its 200 day moving average is $41.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. 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 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 101.12%.

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).