Silver Coast Investments LLC Sells 531 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Silver Coast Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 531 shares during the period. Silver Coast Investments LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 50.4% in the first quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.44 on Friday, hitting $41.69. 4,082,792 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,544,869. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.31 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.51%. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).