ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Has $13.73 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 343,329 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 13,373 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its position in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.2 %

VZ traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.80. The company had a trading volume of 9,581,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,295,252. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.81. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.56 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $159.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 3.05 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company 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 7.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).