FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,637,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the first quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 31,513 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the first quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 30,150 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $169.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.53 and its 200 day moving average is $42.89. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.34%.

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).