Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,489 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.98 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.59. 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 stock has a market cap of $185.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.17%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).