Verity & Verity LLC Has $12.92 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 323,171 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 36,710 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $38.86. 23,987,092 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,659,684. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.03 and a 200 day moving average of $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 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 business earned $1.22 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio 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).