Winch Advisory Services LLC Acquires 1,405 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,496 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares during the quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $38.17 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $41.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.76. The company has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

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).