Apella Capital LLC Has $500,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Apella Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,505 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,308 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,530 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 221,712 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,866,000 after purchasing an additional 31,269 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 67,186 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,687,000 after buying an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $217,087,000 after buying an additional 3,519,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $232,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.17 on Thursday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.17 and a 200-day moving average of $41.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 7.10%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).