J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 211,388 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,286 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 689,842 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,090 shares in the last quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the third quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 47,279 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the third quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 39,873 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,490 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $327,832,000 after acquiring an additional 53,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,166 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.48 on Friday, hitting $41.38. 19,717,360 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,607,941. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.34 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Bank of America upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).