Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Sells 46,973 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 36.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,365 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 46,973 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $354,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.5% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 130,883 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,492,000 after buying an additional 8,033 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 57.0% during the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,210 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $680,000 after buying an additional 5,884 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 97,991 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,112,000 after acquiring an additional 3,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 766,733 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $32,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.15. 17,017,421 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,570,672. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The company's 50-day moving average price is $42.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).