Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC Grows Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,233 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Burney Co. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in 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 increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Ten equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.43.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.54 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $166.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.85%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).