Romano Brothers AND Company Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Romano Brothers AND Company lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,103 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,829 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.24. The company had a trading volume of 27,639,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,795,164. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.07 and its 200 day moving average is $40.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).