First City Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,481 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for about 1.0% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,681,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,976,872. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.56 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.83. The company has a market capitalization of $170.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 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. Stockholders 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 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp cut 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.51.

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).