Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,951 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 327 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,729,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.9% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 942,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,888,000 after acquiring an additional 84,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 67.4% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 642,324 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,489,000 after acquiring an additional 258,683 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. 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 price objective for the company. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial upped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.78. 6,089,486 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,786,867. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given 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 yield of 6.99%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).