Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 4,545 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,399 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,545 shares during the quarter. Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).