Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 1,982 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,400 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,982 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew 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. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $42.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $177.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.95 and a 200 day moving average of $41.50.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.42%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 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).