Wills Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,997 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wills Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,997 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up about 1.4% of Wills Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Wills Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 37,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 5,340 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $464,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 6,456,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $289,963,000 after purchasing an additional 239,086 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $488,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,891,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.37%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).