Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC Purchases 341 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,294 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management grew its position in Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,192,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $433,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,009,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,193,840. The company has a market cap of $175.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $40.86 and a 200-day moving average of $40.48. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

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).