Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,324,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 39,941 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,541,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 183,305 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,232,000 after purchasing an additional 20,900 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,955,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $132,736,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 78,856 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,541,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA grew its position in Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 8,543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the third quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 187,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $186.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).