Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Prentice Wealth Management LLC

Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the first quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 22,649 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $950,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares in the last quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $213,000. Community Bank of Raymore boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.6% during the first quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 6,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $987,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $215,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.05. 9,590,566 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,810,350. The stock has a market cap of $172.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.98. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).