Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Mendota Financial Group LLC

Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17,344.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,570 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,561 shares during the quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $63,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew 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 worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $41.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.78. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.11%. 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).