Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,328 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial upped their price target 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. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $170.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).