Keudell Morrison Wealth Management Sells 758 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Keudell Morrison Wealth Management cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,880 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 758 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Washington Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 6,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 31,281 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,500,000 after acquiring an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 34,831 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,564,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 204,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,169,000 after buying an additional 3,752 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.49 on Thursday, reaching $40.67. 4,848,289 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,511,664. The company has a market capitalization of $171.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.67%. 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).