MKT Advisors LLC Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MKT Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,400 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,628 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,032,269 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,571,000 after purchasing an additional 92,590 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 44.8% during the second quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,946 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 59.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 3,158 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares in the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 32,166 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,327,000 after buying an additional 4,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 56,887 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,346,000 after buying an additional 2,393 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, 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 note on Friday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.29.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.54 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $166.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.85%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).