Drive Wealth Management LLC Has $467,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,804 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 21,279 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $965,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 60,136 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,728,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of VZ opened at $40.81 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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).