Financial Sense Advisors Inc. Has $409,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Financial Sense Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,129 shares during the period. Financial Sense Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 63.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 656,290 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,269,000 after purchasing an additional 254,235 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 41,068 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 22,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Kenfarb & CO. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 56.0% in the third quarter. Kenfarb & CO. now owns 22,655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $734,000 after acquiring an additional 8,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.11. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).