YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 944 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,426 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 944 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 54,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.86 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.34 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).