Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Sells 6,251 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,771 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,251 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $354,000. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 59.8% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 37,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 14,012 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $860,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,453,075 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $144,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 275,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,530,000 after acquiring an additional 40,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $185.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average is $41.59.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).