Waterway Wealth Management LLC Has $666,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Waterway Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 34.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,834 shares during the quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after acquiring an additional 53,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 94,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after acquiring an additional 58,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.00 and a 200-day moving average of $41.28. The company has a market cap of $184.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $31.26 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.20%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 101.12%.

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).