Citizens Business Bank Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Citizens Business Bank decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 923 shares during the quarter. Citizens Business Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.46 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.83.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).