Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 445,673 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 46,071 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $21,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $25,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $171.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.71, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.33 and a 200 day moving average of $42.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).