Boston Trust Walden Corp Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Boston Trust Walden Corp decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 257,639 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,680 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,228 shares in the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.7% during the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 45,418 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 9,295 shares in the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 32,237 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 22,292 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 19.3% in the first quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 37,601 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,578,000 after purchasing an additional 6,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their price objective 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 upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.37.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.34 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.12%.

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).