Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 4,343,135 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,063,479 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,343,135 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.55% of Verizon Communications worth $967,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.68.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $40.09. 15,911,465 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,588,142. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.58 and its 200-day moving average is $40.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $168.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).