Jennison Associates LLC Sells 11,732 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 731,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 11,732 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $32,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.57 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.46 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $179.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $42.93 and its 200-day moving average is $41.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications 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).