180 Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,914 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,737 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,914 shares during the quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 544.2% during the 2nd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Kepos Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Steward Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the first quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Capital Management lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 44.2% during the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 979 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 61.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Edward Jones cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. HSBC lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.25 and a 12-month high of $42.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.94.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.93%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 52.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).