Maple Capital Management Inc. Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Maple Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,295 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,392 shares during the quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the first quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,879 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 106,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,853,000 after buying an additional 8,005 shares in the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,434 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 63,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,868,000 after buying an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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).