Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Acquires Shares of 8,676 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,676 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its position 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.44.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $170.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 3.27 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 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).