FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,153 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,965 shares during the period. FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $250,312,000. Finally, Third Point LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $173,325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.54. The company has a market cap of $179.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.35%. 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).