Cypress Capital Group Has $2.02 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cypress Capital Group decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,937 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 29,027 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $354,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 173,742 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $7,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 112,068 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,702,000 after buying an additional 6,668 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 23.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 58,287 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,446,000 after purchasing an additional 10,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88.5% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 81,441 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,417,000 after purchasing an additional 38,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $42.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,452,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,510,545. The company has a market capitalization of $178.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $42.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. Verizon Communications's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).