Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,130 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 283 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $250,312,000. Third Point LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $173,325,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 419.8% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,141,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,825,000 after purchasing an additional 4,152,099 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, September 9th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

VZ opened at $45.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $45.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $189.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.03%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Verizon Communications 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).