Clarity Capital Partners LLC Sells 2,842 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Clarity Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 36.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,842 shares during the quarter. Clarity Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,025,861 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,248,000 after acquiring an additional 220,348 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the third quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 84,183 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,728,000 after purchasing an additional 3,912 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Verizon Communications by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 58,432 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,894,000 after purchasing an additional 16,715 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in Verizon Communications by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 20,473 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 2,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Shipley& Co Ltd increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 124.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 2,274 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.23.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.08. 13,821,707 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,780,859. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.37 and a 200 day moving average of $40.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $172.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).