Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc

Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,451 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,262,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $85,295,000 after acquiring an additional 56,123 shares during the period. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 919,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,587,000 after acquiring an additional 21,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.85. The company had a trading volume of 3,990,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,553,449. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.62 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.63%.

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).