Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Brave Asset Management Inc.

Brave Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 590 shares during the quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sawyer & Company Inc purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6,700.0% during the fourth quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 1,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Verizon Communications by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 150,759 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,029,000 after purchasing an additional 11,206 shares in the last quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,127 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $38.17 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $160.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial upped 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 downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications 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).