RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC Acquires 3,056 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 2.4% of RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.37 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $186.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 6.11%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).