Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Lowers Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,518 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 18,853 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 244,014 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 11,865 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 95,307 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,280,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 87,567 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,933,000 after purchasing an additional 25,536 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.31 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.34.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).