Norden Group LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,421 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,208 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 24,158 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 89.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 9,818 shares in the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 17,237 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 10,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.
Verizon Communications Price Performance
Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.15. 18,100,349 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,511,424. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a market cap of $173.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.53.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.
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).
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