Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 3,855 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 591,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,855 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $26,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 74,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,140,000 after buying an additional 1,866 shares during the period. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Burney Co. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 63,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares during the period. FSA Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 6,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invst LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $906,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $44.40 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.90 and a 200 day moving average of $41.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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 note on Friday, October 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).