LexAurum Advisors LLC Buys 593 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LexAurum Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,797 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 50.4% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2,159.1% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $43.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.99 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $184.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.87 and its 200-day moving average is $41.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).