Schulhoff & Co. Inc. Sells 1,051 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Schulhoff & Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,359 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,051 shares during the period. Schulhoff & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 958,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $43,030,000 after acquiring an additional 61,500 shares in the last quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the third quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 37,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 126.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,057,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $47,489,000 after purchasing an additional 589,994 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 114,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,118,000 after buying an additional 3,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.5% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 11,495 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.8 %

VZ stock opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.81 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.41. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current 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. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).