XML Financial LLC Has $7.47 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

XML Financial LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,268 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $250,312,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $536,791,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $287,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,951 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.48 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.40 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $170.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.678 dividend. This is a positive change 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 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).