Lipe & Dalton Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lipe & Dalton lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after buying an additional 644,761 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $224,000. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 18,789 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.77 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 for the company. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Company 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).