Detalus Advisors LLC Sells 10,187 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

by · The Markets Daily

Detalus Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 41.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,622 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,187 shares during the quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after buying an additional 53,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 94,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,237,000 after buying an additional 58,657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target 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. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.31.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on VZ

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.95. The company had a trading volume of 6,611,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,478,361. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.97 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $176.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.46%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

(Free Report)

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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