Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,994 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,710 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 244.1% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $38.86 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.06 and a 200 day moving average of $41.71. The stock has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during 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 was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).