Cullinan Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cullinan Associates Inc. reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 54.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,200 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,602,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $362,027,000 after buying an additional 341,056 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

VZ opened at $41.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.09. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $173.00 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

Verizon Communications 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).