Atlantic Family Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Atlantic Family Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,913 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,441 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up 0.3% of Atlantic Family Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $394,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 101,117 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,374,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 86.1% in the second quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 144,109 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,236,000 after buying an additional 66,661 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $6,145,000. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.8% during the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 49,681 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,150,000 after buying an additional 5,638 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.22 on Monday. 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 market cap of $173.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.52.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

About Verizon Communications

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).