Shulman DeMeo Asset Management LLC Sells 3,310 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Shulman DeMeo Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,944 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,310 shares during the quarter. Shulman DeMeo Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.9% during the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 942,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,888,000 after purchasing an additional 84,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 67.4% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 642,324 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,489,000 after buying an additional 258,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $38.32 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.73. The company has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

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).