Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 642,625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 13,356 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $23,899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $567,000. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.50.
Get Our Latest Report on Verizon Communications
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total transaction of $418,022.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.
Verizon Communications Stock Performance
NYSE VZ traded up $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $35.90. 3,267,114 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,181,299. The firm has a market cap of $150.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.57.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 15.58%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 6th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.41%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 53.63%.
Verizon Communications Profile
(Free Report)
Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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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