Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. Decreases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 335,892 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,124 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TFG Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 25,934 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 2,948 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 67,706 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,708,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 44,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 8,354 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 9,138 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.52.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).