Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,151 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 909 shares during the quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $433,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 196.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 647,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $24,400,000 after purchasing an additional 428,776 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $45.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.68. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $45.05. The company has a market capitalization of $189.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.12%.

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).