Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Position Boosted by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,388 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.9% during 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 period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,369,000. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,054,000. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,406,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on VZ. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank boosted 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. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.17 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.93 and a 200-day moving average of $41.64. The firm has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. Verizon Communications’s 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).