Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Has $2.54 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 56,535 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,025 shares during the quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,267,175 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,739,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,963 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $851,989,000 after acquiring an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,220,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

VZ stock opened at $45.04 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $189.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The company had revenue of $32.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 8.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.02%. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 101.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.26.

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).