Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Position Reduced by North Star Asset Management Inc.

North Star Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 88,795 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,119 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 549.5% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.29 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $169.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).