Chatham Capital Group Inc. Sells 2,580 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Chatham Capital Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,335 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,580 shares during the quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Waterway Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.2% in the first quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.5% in the first quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 89,402 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,751,000 after purchasing an additional 9,935 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 22.7% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,228 shares during the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.0% in the first quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 14,300 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its position in Verizon Communications by 11.6% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 244,071 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,241,000 after acquiring an additional 25,300 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $41.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $173.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.06. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

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).