Everett Harris & Co. CA Reduces Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Everett Harris & Co. CA reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 574,581 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,408 shares during the quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $24,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,700,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,983,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after buying an additional 431,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,904,840,000 after buying an additional 3,100,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. Bank of America lifted 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. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. 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 report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.2%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $171.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).