Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,642 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. InvesTrust purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,956,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,190 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,126,000 after buying an additional 45,790 shares during the period. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 230.4% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 61,089 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after acquiring an additional 42,601 shares during the period. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $316,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.96 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $164.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $41.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.56 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).