Neumann Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Neumann Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,519 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. Neumann Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

VZ opened at $40.87 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.84 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $172.03 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. 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).