Montag A & Associates Inc. Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Montag A & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,758 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,879 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 106,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,853,000 after purchasing an additional 8,005 shares during the period. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 30.8% in the first quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,434 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 63,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.66. 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 $171.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. 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. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price 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 downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report 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. Two equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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).