Ariel Investments LLC Sells 254,046 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Ariel Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,171,161 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 254,046 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $50,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.0% during the second quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 120,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,197,000 after buying an additional 20,843 shares during the last quarter. BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,499,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 265,073 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,470,000 after acquiring an additional 9,131 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 1,819,280 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,720,000 after acquiring an additional 155,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,009,388,000 after purchasing an additional 4,205,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut 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. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.38.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.14 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.30. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The firm has a market cap of $169.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

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).