D Orazio & Associates Inc. Sells 1,356 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,752 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $40.92. 5,671,970 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,536,479. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $172.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.81 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).