Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,650 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,642 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 58,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 69,122 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 11,151 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2,654.2% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 968,677 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $40,646,000 after purchasing an additional 933,506 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 116,814 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,902,000 after acquiring an additional 27,782 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 628,522 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $173.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.13.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).