PSI Advisors LLC Sells 8,300 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

PSI Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 28.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,668 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,300 shares during the quarter. PSI Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Wealth Management now owns 9,353 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,346,000. WealthTrust Axiom LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 283,160 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,678,000 after buying an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windle Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 164,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $40.87. 13,079,745 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,525,586. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.44. The stock has a market cap of $172.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).