Focus Financial Network Inc. Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,578 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 123,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 8,351 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 354,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,908,000 after buying an additional 1,975 shares in the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 267,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,002,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the third quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 18,651 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.35. The company has a market cap of $174.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.31 and a 12-month high of $45.36. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 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).