Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC Sells 3,150 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,150 shares during the period. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised 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 buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Scotiabank increased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.89. 5,280,390 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,469,588. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.97 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company 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 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.47%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).