Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. Has $401,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,729 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the period. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.15. 18,100,349 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,511,424. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.53. 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 market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).