Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Sells 259 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,656 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 259 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the second quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.10 on Tuesday, hitting $40.84. The stock had a trading volume of 8,781,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,587,100. The firm has a market cap of $171.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The firm had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Profile

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).