Prospect Financial Services LLC Sells 8,311 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Prospect Financial Services LLC lessened its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 45,916 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,311 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 1.0% of Prospect Financial Services LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Prospect Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 838,292 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,571,000 after purchasing an additional 20,390 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 471,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,436,000 after purchasing an additional 24,690 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 103.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,030,760 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $42,508,000 after buying an additional 524,360 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 122,203 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,040,000 after buying an additional 8,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $1,852,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.44.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE VZ opened at $40.64 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio 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).