Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,620 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,780 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $44.34 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.69. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $186.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications 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).