Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Peddock Capital Advisors LLC

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,336 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 334 shares during the quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $38.09. The company had a trading volume of 19,706,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,753,027. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock 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 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).