Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC Has $553,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,824 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.74. 17,981,951 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,764,883. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.56 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.81. The company has a market capitalization of $158.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).