Summit Wealth Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Summit Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,779 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 688 shares during the period. Summit Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $433,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in 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. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 647,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $24,400,000 after buying an additional 428,776 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James increased 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of VZ opened at $45.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.03. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.00%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

About Verizon Communications

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).