Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Sells 982 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,674 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 982 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $749,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.5% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 205,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,245,000 after purchasing an additional 17,852 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the third quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management now owns 651,017 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $29,237,000 after buying an additional 7,637 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the third quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 41,577 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,867,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 27,250 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 960.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,909,282 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $85,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.34 and a 1 year high of $45.36. 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 stock has a market cap of $176.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).