Wambolt & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Wambolt & Associates LLC reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,254 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,990 shares during the quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,130,494,000 after purchasing an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the first 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 buying an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after buying an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 431,789 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $40.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $171.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS 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 company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen lowered their target price 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. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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).