Heritage Investors Management Corp Decreases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Heritage Investors Management Corp cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 406,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,696 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $17,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the first quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,178 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,637,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 21,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the first quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 31,513 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the first quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 30,150 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.2%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.89. The firm has a market cap of $169.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).