Altus Wealth Group LLC Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Altus Wealth Group LLC decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,072 shares during the quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $250,312,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.9% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 153.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,806,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $115,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,619 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, hitting $41.88. The company had a trading volume of 4,343,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,467,295. The firm has a market cap of $176.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.97 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 101.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.31.

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).