Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 229,128 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,314 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of 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 note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped 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. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.66.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $41.16 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.52. The firm has a market cap of $173.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. 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 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

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).