Jacobs & Co. CA Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jacobs & Co. CA lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,134 shares during the quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,829,675,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 255.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,058,216 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,893,493,000 after purchasing an additional 34,553,565 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,876,978 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,358,991,000 after purchasing an additional 12,189,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. 61.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total transaction of $418,022.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.25 and a 52-week high of $42.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.94. The company has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Raymond James cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).