Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 30.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,469,536 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,071,497 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $110,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $178.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.46 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).