DeDora Capital Inc. Sells 261 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

DeDora Capital Inc. trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. DeDora Capital Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $40,149,000 after buying an additional 53,929 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 94,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,237,000 after acquiring an additional 58,657 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $2.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.32. 9,829,452 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,376,008. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.28. The company has a market capitalization of $173.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.26 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 101.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.31.

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).