Grassi Investment Management Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Grassi Investment Management cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,794 shares during the period. Grassi Investment Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 333,096,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,954,125,000 after acquiring an additional 2,066,003 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,325,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,446,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448,893 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 80,022,393 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,105,742,000 after purchasing an additional 339,775 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during 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 buying an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position 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 valued at $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. HSBC decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $31.25 and a one year high of $42.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.94.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.93%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 52.20%.

Verizon Communications 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).