MAI Capital Management Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MAI Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 7.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 832,676 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 70,208 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $37,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $11,678,000 after acquiring an additional 37,732 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $222,500,000 after buying an additional 129,171 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 579,713 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $26,035,000 after buying an additional 18,346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.64 on Monday, reaching $42.29. 17,405,382 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,590,928. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.20 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $178.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $43.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid 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 6.41%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).