Sound Income Strategies LLC Trims Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,318 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 518 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 50.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,876 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,357,000 after acquiring an additional 14,090 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 43,934 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 2,629 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 597,822 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $19,375,000 after acquiring an additional 189,041 shares during the period. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 64,328 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 1,786 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 152,128 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,952,000 after acquiring an additional 26,931 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.08. The company had a trading volume of 18,925,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,876,619. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $172.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).