Park Place Capital Corp Sells 3,957 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Park Place Capital Corp trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,176 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,957 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Traveka Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $242,000. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 7,654 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 84,849 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 645,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,970,000 after purchasing an additional 99,654 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of VZ traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $44.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,738,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,649,256. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.62 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.16%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

About Verizon Communications

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).