Bell Bank Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bell Bank decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 156,731 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 26,186 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 53.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the third quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 47,127 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,116,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 75.9% during the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,850 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 5,977 shares in the last quarter. Arjuna Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $3,995,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.1% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 568,135 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,515,000 after acquiring an additional 17,182 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $41.15 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.81 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.03 and its 200-day moving average is $41.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).