CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 137,949 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,422 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,602,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $362,027,000 after purchasing an additional 341,056 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.93. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a market cap of $169.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).