Range Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 230.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,089 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 42,601 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises 1.1% of Range Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Range Financial Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.92. The stock had a trading volume of 31,483,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,069,834. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.85. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.56 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.96%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 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).