Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Sells 3,848 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,886 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,848 shares during the quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $39.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned 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 $46.54.

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).