Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC Purchases 2,249 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,182 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares during the quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 168.8% during the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 20,467 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,852 shares during the period. Williams Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,771,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,038,000. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 18,454 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 3,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $38.02. 11,659,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,462,883. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $160.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.80.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).