Raleigh Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,737 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,178 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.0% of Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Raleigh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 74.5% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 162,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,698,000 after buying an additional 69,328 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.0% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 23,122 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.4% in the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the second quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 128,936 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 120,574 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,972,000 after purchasing an additional 7,809 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.95 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $163.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.96%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).