Rench Wealth Management Inc. Acquires 3,065 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Rench Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,868 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.6% of Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $9,589,000. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 324,274 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,373,000 after buying an additional 5,218 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.0% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 60,300 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,487,000 after buying an additional 10,030 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 14.2% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 7,977 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 994 shares during the period. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 9,204 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.84 and a 200 day moving average of $41.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).