Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 258,640 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,295,936 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 258,640 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $185,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began 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. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.72 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.73. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $167.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).