Prospera Private Wealth LLC Purchases 6,506 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 47,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 6,506 shares during the quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after buying an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after buying an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,951 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.98 and a 200 day moving average of $41.49. The company has a market capitalization of $176.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.20 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.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Company 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).