Clarius Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Clarius Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,041 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE VZ opened at $38.86 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.69. 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 market cap of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).