Exeter Financial LLC Has $3.45 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Exeter Financial LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 86,148 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,570 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for about 1.6% of Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,466,446,000 after acquiring an additional 535,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 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 research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $160.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.78.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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