Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Position Trimmed by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 273,650 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 22,504 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 48,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,990,000 after acquiring an additional 3,412 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 679,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,020,000 after purchasing an additional 56,534 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,334,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 74.5% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 162,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,698,000 after buying an additional 69,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.70.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).