San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 2,950 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 115,529 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,950 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 1.1% of San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,262,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $85,295,000 after purchasing an additional 56,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 919,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,587,000 after purchasing an additional 21,132 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $42.96 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.62 and a one year high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $180.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 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, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.63%.

Verizon Communications 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).