Baird Financial Group Inc. Sells 42,572 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,307,034 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 42,572 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $99,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 171.0% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 122,352 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,550,000 after acquiring an additional 77,207 shares in the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $219,000. ABC Arbitrage SA increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the first quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 23,261 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 4,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 135.8% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 10,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. BNP Paribas Exane cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.2%

VZ stock opened at $40.69 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.33.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $0.69 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

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).