Shelton Capital Management Acquires 37,333 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Shelton Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 487,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,333 shares during the quarter. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $21,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Hamel Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hamel Associates Inc. now owns 77,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,333,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Estabrook Capital Management raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Estabrook Capital Management now owns 160,090 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,927,000 after buying an additional 5,837 shares in the last quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.6% during the second quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 28,866 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 807,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,919,000 after buying an additional 146,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the second quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 95,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,329 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.05 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).