Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,156 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 33,900 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.22. The company had a trading volume of 14,701,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,537,789. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.49. The company has a market cap of $177.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).