Centre Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Centre Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,881 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 333,096,547 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,954,125,000 after buying an additional 2,066,003 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,325,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,446,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448,893 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 80,022,393 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,105,742,000 after acquiring an additional 339,775 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $34.04 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.02. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.25 and a 12-month high of $42.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $143.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.81, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 22.28%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.20%.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total transaction of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides 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).