Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Bath Savings Trust Co

Bath Savings Trust Co trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,153 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,202 shares during the quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 81,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,379,000 after buying an additional 7,656 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 866.9% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 155,311 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,405,000 after acquiring an additional 139,249 shares in the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $98,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7,577.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 629,619 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,953,000 after purchasing an additional 621,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $325,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded down $0.40 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.21. 15,796,513 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,032,176. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.56 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $165.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.86. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.91%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).