DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co Trims Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 40,013 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,515 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 41.7% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 16,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,797 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 86,369 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 4,506 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 7,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 793,595 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,299,000 after buying an additional 54,635 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.6 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $1.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $41.73. The stock had a trading volume of 5,035,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,509,889. 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 $33.34 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $175.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 dividend of $0.678 per share. 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.50%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).