VERITY Wealth Advisors Has $240,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

VERITY Wealth Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,726 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. VERITY Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.9% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 7,268 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 1,586 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Pearl River Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,313,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the third quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $2,527,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.08. 17,125,702 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,164,602. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.90. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.64%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

About Verizon Communications

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).