River Street Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

River Street Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 73.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,590 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,780 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. O ROURKE & COMPANY Inc now owns 21,312 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.2% in the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 17,865 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $785,000 after buying an additional 2,752 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the third quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 23,832 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. now owns 10,386 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,359 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.47.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7%

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.46 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.94.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.