Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. Has $216,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,558 shares during the quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,726 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 13,573 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $787,000 after purchasing an additional 3,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 841,375 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,165,000 after purchasing an additional 7,793 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $39.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.94. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $165.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.34%.

About Verizon Communications

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).