Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Position Trimmed by Northeast Financial Consultants Inc

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,882 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,765 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $572,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Mosley Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $433,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 196.3% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 647,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $24,400,000 after buying an additional 428,776 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.09.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $44.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $188.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.76 and its 200-day moving average is $40.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $45.05.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.04%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

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).