Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 548,275 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 14,883 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $23,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,700,279,000 after buying an additional 4,347,416 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,983,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after purchasing an additional 431,789 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,904,840,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,342 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.03 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $168.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The company had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).