Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 2,064 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,064 shares during the quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 120,574 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,972,000 after purchasing an additional 7,809 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $3,369,000. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $2,054,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $2,406,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 5,406 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

VZ opened at $39.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.64.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” 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).