Navellier & Associates Inc. Sells 8,242 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Navellier & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,588 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,242 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).