Principal Street Partners LLC Sells 35,962 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Principal Street Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 129,023 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 35,962 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.93 on Tuesday. 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 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.93 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.88 and a 200-day moving average of $41.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. 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).