Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,919,080 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 219,143 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.19% of Verizon Communications worth $342,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after buying an additional 96,931 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% during the second quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,551,000 after purchasing an additional 722,559 shares during the period. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $41.22 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.54.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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).