5,627 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Purchased by Baker Boyer National Bank

Baker Boyer National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,627 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.44.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.44 on Wednesday. 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 quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $170.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).