Retirement Planning Group LLC Sells 4,013 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Retirement Planning Group LLC lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,809 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,013 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% in 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 period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after buying an additional 10,300,369 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $385,750,000 after buying an additional 6,385,197 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.6% in 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 buying an additional 5,392,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.86 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $168.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.34%.

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).