Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Lifted by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,860 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 955 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.04 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $164.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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).