Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Decreases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 56.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 35,892 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Advantage Trust Co grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 549.5% in 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 during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $173.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.52. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. 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 yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

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).