Clearstead Trust LLC Purchases 1,395 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,395 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $16,700,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347,416 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $4,983,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172,175 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 303.9% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,261,648,000 after buying an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,475,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,062,750,000 after buying an additional 431,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.10 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business had revenue of $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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).