Seeds Investor LLC Reduces Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

Seeds Investor LLC lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,232 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,258 shares during the quarter. Seeds Investor LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $573,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 549.5% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 591 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 222.2% during the 2nd quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 725 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.76 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly 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 $33.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

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).