Sage Capital Advisors llc Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,740 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,539 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 1.4% of Sage Capital Advisors llc’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Sage Capital Advisors llc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.40 on Friday, reaching $37.86. The company had a trading volume of 14,219,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,084,443. 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’s fifty day moving average is $41.36 and its 200 day moving average is $41.81. The company has a market cap of $159.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.56 and a 1 year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.16%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

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).