Farmers Trust Co. Sells 28,051 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Farmers Trust Co. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,708 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 28,051 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the second quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $889,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the second quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.20 and a 200 day moving average of $41.08. The stock has a market cap of $187.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.09%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).