Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. Sells 20,801 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 59.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,219 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 20,801 shares during the period. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares in the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $433,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven investment 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

VZ opened at $41.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $173.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.93 and its 200 day moving average is $40.53.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).