First National Trust Co Sells 2,916 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First National Trust Co cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,207 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,916 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd 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. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $170.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.41 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.71%. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).