QRG Capital Management Inc. Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

QRG Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 824,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,826 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $37,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 102,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,592,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 973,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,149,000 after purchasing an additional 53,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 164.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 94,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after purchasing an additional 58,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.46. 785,697 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,523,080. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.36. The company has a market cap of $174.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.40 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).