Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 95.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,120 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 65,488 shares during the quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 87,784 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,942,000 after purchasing an additional 15,009 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.8% in the third quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 501,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $22,535,000 after purchasing an additional 20,818 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.5% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 684,908 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,759,000 after purchasing an additional 59,387 shares during the period. Finally, Investors Research Corp increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the third quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 32,420 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.15 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.56. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS 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 dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).