Atom Investors LP Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Atom Investors LP trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 88.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 71,166 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 37,732 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.52 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.46 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $178.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

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).