Citizens Business Bank Sells 923 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Citizens Business Bank lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 923 shares during the period. Citizens Business Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.9% in the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 254,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,429,000 after acquiring an additional 161,559 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 175,460 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,880,000 after purchasing an additional 18,140 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 258,954 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 10,868 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,106,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.46.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.83. The stock has a market cap of $178.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.46 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).