Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,660 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 695 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the third quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 9,388 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Unison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 62,258 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,796,000 after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the third quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 242,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,895,000 after acquiring an additional 11,845 shares in the last quarter. Hyperion Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.2% during the third quarter. Hyperion Partners LLC now owns 13,643 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the third quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 18,428 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $1.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $43.08. 4,414,002 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,587,244. The firm has a market cap of $181.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.20. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.62 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 101.12%.

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).