Tevis Investment Management trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 23.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,670 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,255 shares during the quarter. Tevis Investment Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its position 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in shares of 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. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lifted 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. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.
Verizon Communications Price Performance
Shares of VZ opened at $41.28 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.67 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. 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 company has a market capitalization of $173.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day moving average is $43.14 and its 200-day moving average is $41.32.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.57%. 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. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.
About Verizon Communications
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).
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