Mayfair Advisory Group LLC Sells 741 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mayfair Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,055 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 741 shares during the period. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 14,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 35,211 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Breakwater Capital Group increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 8,669 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 2,656 shares in the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 17,344.4% in the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. now owns 23,977 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $959,000 after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $38.33 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $161.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).