Maia Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 7,579 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Maia Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,579 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 105,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,975,000 after purchasing an additional 3,054 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 53,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after buying an additional 8,459 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,209 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $249,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.50. 400,065 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,681,768. The firm has a market cap of $170.47 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.49. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).