Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 327,222 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,130 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after acquiring an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,046,000 after buying an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after purchasing an additional 722,559 shares during the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,888,000 after buying an additional 39,445 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Arete Research raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $38.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.87.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

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).