Krilogy Financial LLC Purchases 4,877 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Krilogy Financial LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 33.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,481 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 132,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,293,000 after purchasing an additional 9,565 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 160,587 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,420,000 after acquiring an additional 16,365 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 45,299 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,812,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 6,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 323,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,924,000 after buying an additional 36,710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $38.86 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James boosted their target price 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

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).