Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,734 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,081 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 838,292 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,571,000 after buying an additional 20,390 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 471,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,436,000 after purchasing an additional 24,690 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 103.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,030,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $42,508,000 after buying an additional 524,360 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 122,203 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,040,000 after buying an additional 8,826 shares during the period. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $1,852,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.8 %

VZ stock opened at $40.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $171.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. 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 6.67%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.44.

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).