Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 1,603,587 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,355,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,603,587 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,053,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 368,171,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,700,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 109,866,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,983,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,175 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after purchasing an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after purchasing an additional 431,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,993,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,904,840,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100,342 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.1%

VZ opened at $39.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.31 and its 200 day moving average is $42.82. The stock has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $33.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).