Sivia Capital Partners LLC Has $375,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,381 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.03. 13,270,981 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,769,502. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.80. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 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 (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).