PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 27,496 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,977,804 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 27,496 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Verizon Communications worth $268,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,798,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,551,691. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.20 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $176.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.47. 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 released its 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. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.47%. 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. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications 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).