Members Trust Co Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Members Trust Co increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the quarter. Members Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the first quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Platform Technology Partners lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the first quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 31,513 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Mattern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the first quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,812 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.29 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.04. The company has a market capitalization of $169.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.34%.

Verizon Communications 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).