Carret Asset Management LLC Sells 4,106 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Carret Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,734 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,106 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 31,626,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,434,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.20 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $169.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.89.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).