Peoples Financial Services CORP. Has $1.84 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Peoples Financial Services CORP. lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,451 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,907 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $1,829,675,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 255.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,058,216 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,893,493,000 after buying an additional 34,553,565 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,876,978 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,358,991,000 after buying an additional 12,189,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $33.79 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.05 billion, a PE ratio of 6.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.25 and a 12 month high of $42.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Edward Jones lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).