GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. Has $37.04 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 824,662 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,147 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for about 2.1% of GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $37,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after purchasing an additional 53,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 94,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after purchasing an additional 58,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.49. The company had a trading volume of 3,629,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,512,225. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.84 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).