Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,295 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 434 shares during the quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $354,000. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $282,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 11,845 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 58,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,446,000 after buying an additional 6,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,947,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $165,634,000 after buying an additional 270,014 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

VZ stock opened at $40.55 on Friday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.40 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.43.

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

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).