Fulton Bank N.A. Has $6.19 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 166,338 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,283 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after buying an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $567,000. Institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. HSBC lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $34.04 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $143.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.25 and a twelve month high of $42.58.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $32.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.30 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Samantha Hammock sold 12,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $418,022.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).