Harrell Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,138 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Harrell Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,140 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,138 shares during the quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 45,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after acquiring an additional 8,466 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 72,022 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 23,486 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 124,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after acquiring an additional 6,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insight Inv LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 27,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.9 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.54 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.29.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).