Metis Global Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Metis Global Partners LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 215,100 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 20,640 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after purchasing an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.69. The company has a market capitalization of $168.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).