Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 299 shares during the quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report 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 Sunday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.37 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $178.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

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).