OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A Has $3.64 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,852 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 18,199 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up 1.2% of OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 121.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 176,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,007,000 after acquiring an additional 96,931 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2,916.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 347,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,046,000 after purchasing an additional 336,190 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 7,297,469 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $309,551,000 after purchasing an additional 722,559 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 205,416 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 39,445 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.0% during 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 valued at $1,904,840,000 after buying an additional 3,100,342 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $56.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.31.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of VZ opened at $40.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $172.28 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.33. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).