BCS Wealth Management Has $487,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

BCS Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,846 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 295 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,159.1% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $184.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.99 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).