Exchange Bank Sells 485 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Exchange Bank decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 485 shares during the quarter. Exchange Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after acquiring an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,882,164,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882,873 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $821,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,602,847 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $362,027,000 after purchasing an additional 341,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE VZ traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $41.05. 7,267,304 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,790,549. The business’s 50-day moving average is $40.02 and its 200-day moving average is $39.98. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).