Freestate Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Freestate Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,129 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,574 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up 0.4% of Freestate Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Freestate Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.3 %

VZ stock opened at $38.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.76. The stock has a market cap of $160.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).