Jacobs & Co. CA Reduces Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jacobs & Co. CA lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,134 shares during the quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 88,670 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,298,000 after purchasing an additional 8,755 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $334,000. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 236,254 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,786,000 after acquiring an additional 6,201 shares during the period. Rempart Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,575 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975 shares during the period. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the second quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 403,012 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,988,000 after purchasing an additional 7,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $33.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.25 and a 52-week high of $42.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.94.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Sell-side 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 paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Citigroup upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. HSBC decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

About Verizon Communications

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).