Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 124,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,945 shares during the quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Insight Inv LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 27,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,818 shares in the last quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 6,472 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 252,157 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,084,000 after acquiring an additional 9,554 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 20,561 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 2,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of VZ opened at $39.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $166.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 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 6.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.29.

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).