New Covenant Trust Company N.A. Reduces Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

New Covenant Trust Company N.A. decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,132 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. New Covenant Trust Company N.A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of VZ traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.78. 20,009,887 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,351,631. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.47. The company has a market cap of $175.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).