Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,505 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,468 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,876 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after acquiring an additional 14,090 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.3% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 22,877 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $2,951,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 96.5% in the third quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 15,972 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 7,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 48,662 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 2,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $41.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,637,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,928,629. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.02. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $173.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).