Lauer Wealth LLC Has $203,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lauer Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,085 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 513 shares during the period. Lauer Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 942,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,888,000 after purchasing an additional 84,973 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 642,324 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,489,000 after purchasing an additional 258,683 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased 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. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $38.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $161.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.73.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.07%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio 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).