Legend Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases 320 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 69.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $31,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 230.4% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 61,089 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,443,000 after buying an additional 42,601 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 77,796 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 17,393 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 70,276 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,810,000 after buying an additional 15,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 65,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,619,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.92. The company had a trading volume of 31,449,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,055,719. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.56 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. The stock has a market cap of $163.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.86.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.96%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).