Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $25.28 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 632,214 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,958 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $25,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $37.99. 7,041,341 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,758,906. The company has a market cap of $159.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. 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 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.80.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders 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 7.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).