Cox Capital Mgt LLC Sells 420 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cox Capital Mgt LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,136 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKA Wealth Consulting Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $297,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3,944.6% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,422,736 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $62,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,835 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the first quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 8,269 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 39,504 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,536,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.50 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.40.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $33.79 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $42.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.70 and a 200 day moving average of $35.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.76, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 15.58%. The business had revenue of $32.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.665 per share. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 6th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.20%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other 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 transaction of $418,022.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).