Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by Spire Wealth Management

Spire Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,657 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 14,134 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 737.5% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.6% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 5,392,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.84. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).