MJP Associates Inc. ADV Purchases 2,007 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,855 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,007 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $297,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,944.6% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,422,736 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $62,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,835 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 9.2% in the first quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.7% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,497,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,676,000 after purchasing an additional 305,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ELCO Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the first quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 8,269 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.94.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The company had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).