By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 244.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the quarter. IFS Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $45,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during 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 during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.
Verizon Communications Stock Performance
Shares of VZ opened at $38.12 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 3.17 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.76.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective 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, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on VZ
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).
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