Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 734 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burney Co. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 63,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88.5% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 81,441 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,417,000 after buying an additional 38,237 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 668,900 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $28,067,000 after buying an additional 46,000 shares in the last quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $7,227,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.1% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,560 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 5,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.0 %

VZ opened at $44.38 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.90 and its 200 day moving average is $41.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).