Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Sells 6,408 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 532,591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,408 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $23,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $42.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.14 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.85. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.46.

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).