Demars Financial Group LLC Has $258,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Key Points

• Demars Financial Group LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications by 99.2%, ending up with a value of $258,000 after selling 732,719 shares in the second quarter.
• Verizon recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.22, exceeding analysts' expectations, and recorded a revenue of $34.50 billion, up 5.2% year-over-year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.68 to $0.69 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 6.8%.

Demars Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 99.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,954 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 732,719 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,434,572,000 after acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.56 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $170.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.07. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%.The business's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.63.

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).

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