Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 1,054,641 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec trimmed its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,199,465 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,054,641 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up 0.7% of Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.19% of Verizon Communications worth $368,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.9% in the third quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,097 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 11,491 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 124,094 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the period. William Allan Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 9,898 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,720,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $122,177,000 after purchasing an additional 316,726 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.34 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.69. The firm has a market cap of $186.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).