Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 3,855 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 591,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,855 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $26,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 74,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,140,000 after buying an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Burney Co. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 63,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,680,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 6,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invst LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth approximately $906,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.40 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $186.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day moving average of $41.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).