Crescent Sterling Ltd. Sells 329 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Crescent Sterling Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 30,577 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 329 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.5% of Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 96,931 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its position 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 worth $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Verizon Communications by 11.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $2,799,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Verizon Communications by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.31 and a 200-day moving average of $42.84. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 firm 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%. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).