Acropolis Investment Management LLC Sells 564 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Acropolis Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 34,351 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 564 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.91 and a 200 day moving average of $41.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.46 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).