Empowered Funds LLC Trims Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 21.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 371,363 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 101,733 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $16,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $678,739,000 after buying an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $541,372,000 after acquiring an additional 936,823 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of 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, KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.65. 21,473,602 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,596,234. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.93 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. 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 6.51%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).