Brighton Jones LLC Sells 3,416 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Brighton Jones LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,358 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,416 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,434,572,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1%

VZ stock opened at $38.83 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.97. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.1%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.34%.

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).