Western Pacific Wealth Management LP Has $135,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Western Pacific Wealth Management LP raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 99.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,004 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,501 shares during the period. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 58,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,446,000 after acquiring an additional 6,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,947,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $165,634,000 after acquiring an additional 270,014 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.55 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $170.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).