Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Donaldson Capital Management LLC

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,442 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,087 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 49,046 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,911 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 4,308,611 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $193,500,000 after acquiring an additional 432,422 shares in the last quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 35,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,490,744 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $63,894,000 after acquiring an additional 321,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $41.06 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.40 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.60%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).