Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 82,852 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 18,199 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for 1.2% of OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,329,149 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $105,650,000 after buying an additional 296,624 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.8% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 15,677 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 8,378 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 86,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the first quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 18,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $854,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. TD Cowen decreased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.31.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $40.86 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $172.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).