Cornerstone Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.7%, owning 164,200 shares valued at approximately $7.45 million after selling 11,800 shares in the first quarter.
• Verizon Communications reported $1.22 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $1.19, with quarterly revenue of $34.50 billion, which also exceeded expectations.
• Verizon recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, yielding 6.3%, with a payout ratio of 63.17%.

Cornerstone Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,200 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 11,800 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% during 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 buying an additional 5,392,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.35. 17,800,801 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,145,494. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.54 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.75. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).