Steph & Co. Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,233 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its position 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 last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in 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. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.17 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.76. The company has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).