Howe & Rusling Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Howe & Rusling Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,142 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 584 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on VZ. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.50. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $36.46 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. This is a boost from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).