Quest Partners LLC Sells 11,934 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Quest Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 876 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 11,934 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $39,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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. Nine 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.34. The stock had a trading volume of 9,023,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,530,046. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $42.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.12%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).