Tributary Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tributary Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 37.9% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.38 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.34 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $174.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).