Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Position Increased by First Pacific Financial

First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,857 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $74,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,729,000 after buying an additional 643 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.9% in 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 buying an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 942,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,888,000 after buying an additional 84,973 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $26,489,000 after buying an additional 258,683 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of 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. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.73. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.07%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).