Aigen Investment Management LP Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Aigen Investment Management LP trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 29.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 16,177 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $354,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 101,944 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,278,000 after buying an additional 2,103 shares during the last quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. now owns 158,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,630,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 4,832,361 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $187,931,000 after acquiring an additional 179,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.4% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,186 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.17. 2,812,398 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,534,846. The business’s 50-day moving average is $43.08 and its 200-day moving average is $41.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.10 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

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).