Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,972 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 809 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,434,572,000 after buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $38.83 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.96. 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).