Grant Private Wealth Management Inc Sells 97,956 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 83.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,118 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 97,956 shares during the quarter. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $2,504,150,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,205,449 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $915,552,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.70 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.59 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.20.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.31.

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).