Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 227,950 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 8,850 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Goldstone Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 11,875 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 135,400 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 177.4% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 33,544 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,341,000 after buying an additional 21,451 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 11,471 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 61,749 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,469,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $38.86. 23,879,149 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,943,309. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $41.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. 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 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 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 issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).