Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,811 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 417 shares during the quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 65.7% in the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 20,550 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $898,000 after purchasing an additional 8,150 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 12,043 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 63,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,843,000 after buying an additional 5,740 shares during the period. Financial Partners Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Partners Group LLC now owns 32,586 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $898,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,125,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,518,160. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $33.34 and a one year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $176.87 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.678 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

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).