Nilsine Partners LLC Purchases 3,090 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,625 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 37,110 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 3,195 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 59,309 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,372,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 5,929 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,750 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.44.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.44 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.61. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $170.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors 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 yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).