McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Has $660,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,687 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,562 shares during the quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $541,372,000 after purchasing an additional 936,823 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.00. 10,658,662 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,587,283. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.62 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $181.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).