Portside Wealth Group LLC Sells 589 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Portside Wealth Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 77,846 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 589 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 307,514 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,682,000 after purchasing an additional 29,082 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.3% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 36,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 152,304 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after buying an additional 24,016 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,272 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,197,000 after buying an additional 20,164 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Research & Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 100,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).