City State Bank Sells 450 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

City State Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,471 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 51,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after buying an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.8% during the first quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,311 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 5,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $50.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $38.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.96. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.34%.

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).