Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Key Points

• Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. by 41.5% during Q2, now holding 87,704 shares valued at $3,795,000.
• Several hedge funds, including Lafayette Investments and Pittenger & Anderson, increased their holdings by significant percentages during the same quarter, indicating mixed investor sentiment.
• Verizon has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.69 per share, an increase from the previous $0.68, reflecting a yield of 6.9% as of October 10th.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 41.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,704 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 62,203 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 17,602 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 78.9% in the 2nd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 8,809 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,886 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14,706.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 65,295 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 64,854 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 29,343 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 3,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 14,368 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.29 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company has a market capitalization of $169.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $43.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.04.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

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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