Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Sells 2,196 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,677 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,196 shares during the quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 24,567 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. BCGM Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,163 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.0% in the first quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 31,134 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.48. 21,305,883 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,613,715. The firm has a market cap of $170.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.38.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. 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 6.70%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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).