Lynch & Associates IN Sells 977 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lynch & Associates IN trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 977 shares during the period. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. 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. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,298,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,407,391. The company has a market cap of $159.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.56 and a one year high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given 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 7.17%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).