Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 450,204 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,560 shares during the quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $20,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $354,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 24,567 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,163 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 31,134 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $35.40 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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).