Constitution Capital LLC Has $208,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Constitution Capital LLC cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 36.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,624 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,608 shares during the quarter. Constitution Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $3,346,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,678,000 after purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,894 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $961,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 919,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,587,000 after purchasing an additional 21,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advocate Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 242,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,895,000 after purchasing an additional 11,845 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.26.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $43.10. 971,784 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,498,330. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.62 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 101.12%.

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).