Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 557,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,921 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $22,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the second quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, BCS Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the second quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 11,141 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.86 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.60. The company has a market capitalization of $184.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

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).