21,632 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Bought by Heritage Wealth Management Inc.

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $250,312,000. Third Point LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 419.8% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after buying an additional 4,152,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $45.21 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.03. The company has a market capitalization of $190.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. 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).