19,985 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Bought by Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC

Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 19,985 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $898,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 22,340 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 3,370 shares during the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 105,553 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,740,000 after buying an additional 1,257 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 205,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,245,000 after buying an additional 17,852 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management now owns 651,017 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $29,237,000 after buying an additional 7,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 41,577 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,867,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during 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 analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised 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. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $174.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.34 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).