MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC Sells 64,323 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 38.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,475 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 64,323 shares during the quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after buying an additional 1,216,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,739,000 after purchasing an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of VZ opened at $41.15 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. TD Cowen increased their price target 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. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.66.

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).