Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 4,130 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 327,222 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,130 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after buying an additional 336,190 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after acquiring an additional 722,559 shares during the period. Element Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after acquiring an additional 39,445 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 3.1%

VZ stock opened at $38.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $164.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.87.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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).