Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Has $5.47 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,896 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,184 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,474,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after purchasing an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped 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. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.15 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.55. The company has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. 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 firm earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).