LexAurum Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LexAurum Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,030 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,233 shares during the quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 120,574 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,972,000 after acquiring an additional 7,809 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,369,000. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,054,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,406,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 5,406 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. UBS Group increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.93 and a 200-day moving average of $41.64. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors 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 6.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Verizon Communications 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).