Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Has $5.46 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 121,729 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,940 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $250,312,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st 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 lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $536,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,247 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after buying an additional 1,916,951 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.31.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded down $2.17 on Tuesday, hitting $41.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,020,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,504,395. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.26 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $174.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.53%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).