Winthrop Advisory Group LLC Sells 889 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,233 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 889 shares during the period. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.08 on Monday, hitting $37.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,552,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,305,648. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.29 and its 200 day moving average is $41.80. The firm has a market cap of $159.50 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).