Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Bangor Savings Bank

Bangor Savings Bank cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 79,189 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,475 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on 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 lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.59 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.56 and a 12 month high of $45.36. 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 $41.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.86. The company has a market cap of $166.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.06, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.85%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).