Linscomb Wealth Inc. Sells 2,637 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 175,754 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,637 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank upped 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. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,374,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,514,719. The stock has a market cap of $173.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $35.93 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).