Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Decreases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC reduced its Verizon holdings by 18.4% in Q1, now owning $7.53 million worth of shares, marking Verizon as its 12th largest position.
• Verizon recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, yielding 6.3%, with a payout ratio of 63.17%.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Verizon, with a consensus average price target of $47.35 and a rating of "Moderate Buy" from various brokerages.

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,907 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 37,472 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for 1.8% of Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the first quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NCM Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $735,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

VZ stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $43.18. 12,908,831 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,313,446. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.17%.

Verizon Communications 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).