Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Sells 478 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,012 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 478 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $181.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.55. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank upped 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).