Logan Capital Management Inc. Sells 90,705 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Logan Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,005 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 90,705 shares during the quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 22.1% in the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 1,174,982 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,841,000 after acquiring an additional 212,600 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 7,331 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 463,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $20,042,000 after purchasing an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,579,597 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $68,349,000 after buying an additional 71,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,793.8% during the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 324,803 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,054,000 after buying an additional 318,166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.25 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.73 and a 200-day moving average of $42.94. The company has a market capitalization of $165.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.37. 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.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).