Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 320,183 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Cooke & Bieler LP trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,266,918 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 320,183 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 0.05% of Verizon Communications worth $99,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Cadinha & Co. LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,551,000 after buying an additional 722,559 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 378.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 93,732 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after buying an additional 74,151 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 555,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $24,427,000 after acquiring an additional 43,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 2,762,705 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $121,421,000 after acquiring an additional 151,100 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.07.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.53 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.61. 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 company has a market capitalization of $166.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.45, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.39 and a 12 month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.