Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,740 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 165,633 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after buying an additional 7,427 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 244,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,771,000 after acquiring an additional 3,733 shares in the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $655,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,381 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James increased 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.09. 19,699,441 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,749,570. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.80.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.11%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).