Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,195 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 268 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14,706.1% during the 2nd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 65,295 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after acquiring an additional 64,854 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 29,343 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 3,170 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 14,368 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,551,000 after acquiring an additional 722,559 shares during the period. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 281,372 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,175,000 after acquiring an additional 88,394 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $172.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.06. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

About Verizon Communications

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).