Groupama Asset Managment Sells 19,461 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Groupama Asset Managment reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 53,448 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 19,461 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after buying an additional 4,615,075 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,983,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101,504 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted 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 worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after purchasing an additional 431,789 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4%

VZ opened at $41.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. 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 $173.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average of $42.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly 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 $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).