Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,110 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,894 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First National Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.2% during the third quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 3,461 shares during the last quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the third quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. now owns 49,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after buying an additional 6,420 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 65.4% during the third quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 18,560 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 7,340 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,654,000. Finally, Cowa LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the third quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 16,052 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 753 shares during the period. 60.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 24th. Cowen cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.68.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.58. The company had a trading volume of 8,718,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,107,836. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.76 and a 52-week high of $55.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $170.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 25.80% and a net margin of 14.22%. The company had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6525 per share. This represents a $2.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 56.62%.

Verizon Communications Profile

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Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid and prepaid service plans; internet access on notebook computers and tablets; wireless equipment, including smartphones and other handsets; and wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices comprising smart watches.