Waterway Wealth Management LLC Acquires 676 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Waterway Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 676 shares during the quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the period. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.42 on Friday, reaching $41.24. 27,639,192 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. The company has a market capitalization of $173.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).